WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Nancy Boyda (Kansas Second District) announced that the United States House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed H.R. 6331 and she called on the Senate to pass the bill urgently.

Boyda said “I hope that with our backs against the wall, the Senate will finally put filibusters aside and pass this important relief for patients and providers this week.” Boyda referred to the Senate’s failure to end debate and proceed to a vote on a similar bill last week.

Passing the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) this week is essential because it protects patients from several damaging Medicare policies scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2008. The bill also puts in place several measures to both increase beneficiaries’ access to care and improve the quality of the care they receive.

Unless H.R. 6331 is passed into law, Medicare will change for the worse on July 1, 2008. Medicare reimbursements to doctors and other providers will drop by over 10 percent. Doctors in rural areas will have their fees cut even further. Patients’ access to therapy services will be capped. Bonus payments for pathology laboratories and ambulance service in rural areas will end. In the Kansas City area and nine other cities, suppliers of wheelchairs, oxygen canisters and other durable medical equipment will no longer be able to serve Medicare beneficiaries. MIPPA stops all of those changes.

Boyda was equally pleased to see the new provisions in the bill: “We always knew that we were going to take care of the doctors’ fees. What is so gratifying about this bill is that we addressed the pharmacists’ pressures too.”

Boyda has been working to reverse policies that were forcing community pharmacies to close. H.R. 6331 contains two of her highest priorities: a requirement that Part D drug plans pay pharmacies’ claims within 30 days, and a delay in Medicaid’s scheduled switch to reimbursement based on Average Manufacturer’s Price (AMP) data.

In 2005, Congress ordered Medicaid to alter its formula for reimbursing pharmacies for prescription drugs, and the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office determined the new formula would provide, on average, 36% less than a pharmacy's cost to acquire a medication. The resulting financial loss would cripple many community pharmacies, potentially triggering a health care crisis in rural Kansas.

Boyda has built coalitions to address AMP-based reimbursement since the beginning of the Congress. 108 members joined her in sending a letter to Medicaid administrators asking for a delay, and over 150 members have co-sponsored her legislation, H.R. 3140, the Saving Our Community Pharmacies Act. H.R. 3140 would permanently fix AMP-based reimbursement. If MIPPA becomes law, AMP-based reimbursement will be delayed through September 2009.