Hospitals have been crying for help, mainly because the Administration went
overboard in implementing needed Medicare reforms passed by Congress. Congress
intended approximately $50 billion in savings through greater efficiency and
elimination of waste. The Clinton Administration went too far by squeezing
approximately $70 billion out of the system. This hurt hospitals and care
givers. This bill restores the balance we intended in the first Medicare
reform bill.
The 5-year, $15 billion bipartisan package will not use
any Social Security surplus, and still provides over $800 million to strengthen
rural hospitals and increase access to critical health care. Medicare
patients would no longer pay co-insurance for lab tests furnished by rural and
critical access hospitals. Under the Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program,
rural clinics would get help in obtaining computer software and staff training
to adjust to changes in the new prospective payment system.
The plan adopts a new average 96 hour length of stay for patients in rural hospitals so that beneficiaries with more severe conditions can stay longer without being transferred to another hospital. The plan gives rural hospitals more flexibility in hospital bed use, and allows recently closed hospitals to convert into critical access hospitals, which provide intensive outpatient medical care.
The plan offers 6.2 million beneficiaries Increased flexibility through Medicare+Choice (M+C). The bill includes nearly $2.5 billion to help seniors enroll in M+C plans that include benefits such as mammograms and prescription drugs. It also offers M+C beneficiaries an automatic open enrollment when a plan is ending its contract.
Medicare’s 38 million seniors and disabled can get care at home through a $1.3 billion initiative to give increased access to home health services. It does this by delaying 15% payment reductions to home health agencies.
The bill also makes adjustments in payments for certain classes of patients and for innovative drugs and medical devices. It boosts rehabilitation therapy for skilled nursing patients. It also increases access for prostheses, wheelchairs, ambulance services and drugs. and adjusting the payment system to account for medically-complex Medicare patients needing more intensive care.
It will also increase access to prostheses, wheelchairs, cancer fighting drugs, and ambulance services.
The plan will improve Medicare’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) program by freezing the Indirect Medical Education program for one year and adopting a more equitable funding structure for direct GME payments to teaching hospitals. This may affect more than 98,000 future doctors.
Agreement Reached on Securing Social Security Trust Fund
President Vetoes Foreign Aid Bill
Democrats and Republicans in House Decisively Reject Clinton-Gore Tax Request
Education Bill Provides More Title I Funding and More Local Control
Visitors
Children’s Tree House President-elect Jim Thompson and Executive Director Wanda Torbert also visited. They are making progress in establishing an abused children center in Columbus, which will combine police, medical, child protective services and a shelter. They told me the single-stop facility is less stressful for the child, because they go through only one interview instead of several. Mr. Thompson, who works for United Cities Gas, and Mrs. Torbert are a real credit to Columbus.
Jeff Haas, manager of the Daimler Chrysler Parts Distribution Center in Atlanta, met with me to discuss the company and its Atlanta facility.