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| Wilson today hailed passage of H.R. 3426 |
November 15, 1999 |
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| WASHINGTON -- Congresswoman Heather Wilson today hailed passage of H.R. 3426, a bill to amend titles XVIII, XIX, and XXI of the Social Security Act. The legislation makes corrections and refinements in the Medicare, Medicaid, and State children's health insurance programs. Total Spending: $16 billion over 5 years.
Specifically the bill provides additional funding for:
1. $2.1 billion for Skilled Nursing Facilities over five years. It also increases payment rates for high cost cases by 20% from April to September 2000. Finally, it will increase all payments by 4% in 2001 and 2002.
2. Hospitals treating a disproportionate share (DSH) of uninsured and low-income patients.
3. Community Health Centers: These are important to NM because they serve as many as 10% of the NM population. The restructuring of reimbursement for community health centers under BBA would have been too harsh--this bill delays that restructuring. For fiscal years 2001 and 2002, community health centers can submit their costs to and be reimbursed 95% of their reasonable costs. In 2003, the phase-down would being again: reimbursement would decrease to 90%, then to 85% in 2004, and so on.
4. Outpatient Services: outpatient services reimbursements are substantially increased. The Bill provides $3.4 billion for Part A (hospital) outpatient services, the highest provision in the bill. It also allows additional payments to hospitals for certain high cost cases for which costs for each covered service exceed a fixed multiple of the PPS amount.
5. Home Health Care funding will increase $1.3 billion over five years. The BBA has hurt patient care in New Mexico, helping to drive some home health-care companies out of business and pinching revenues of organizations like St. Joseph and Presbyterian. The cumulative impact on Presbyterian from 1998 to 2001 has been a $43 million reduction in revenue. St. Joseph had a $3 million drop in revenue for the year ended in July directly related to the Medicare cutbacks.
6. Rural Hospitals: Rural hospitals in New Mexico often provide the only emergency care available to travelers in remote areas. Rural residents rely on the facilities to deliver babies and administer other medical care. A number of small hospitals statewide are on the brink of closing. This bill will help to get those smaller hospitals that are so vital to New Mexico's rural communities, like Guadalupe County General Hospital in Santa Rosa, back on their feet.
7. UNM Medical Center: The package of additional Medicare money includes $600 million for teaching hospitals, which will benefit medical students at the University of New Mexico. It will stop the cuts to medical education programs that had been in UNM's budget and will significantly help UNM in its ability to finance medical educations for its medical students. |
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