Next year may be a busy year for Congress, and action may be taken on several key issues affecting healthcare providers.

After a setback in December delayed negotiations until 2022, Democrats hope to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion social spending agenda.

Legislators are also expected to turn their attention to things like Telemedicine And mental health, they are widely supported, and urgent action is needed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following is a summary of the issues that may be on the agenda next year:

Rebuild better actions
Biden and Congressional Democrats initially hoped to pass the healthcare, climate, and tax package by the end of 2021, but with the resistance of moderate Senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), the negotiations will enter a new year. Manchin stated that he is concerned about the price tag of the bill and believes that the Democrats hide their true costs by extending certain projects for only a few years and planning to reauthorize them in the future.The package will include temporary extensions qualified Affordable Care Act subsidies, narrowed the gap in the coverage of Medicaid in 12 states, and built up the health care workforce and more.

Telemedicine

The pandemic has caused explode For the use of telemedicine, the federal government has expanded the coverage of medical insurance through temporary exemptions.Those ones Exempt Will expire at the end of the public health emergency, and Congress is under pressure to make these changes permanent.

A key exemption that is about to end allows all health insurance beneficiaries to use telemedicine services at home. Before the pandemic, Medicare only paid for telemedicine services for people living in rural areas, and they had to receive these services in medical institutions.

Congressional aides said that broad consensus has been reached on the removal of website and geographic restrictions. It is not clear whether Congress will do this permanently or only for a few years. The final decision may be around cost.

“Cost is currently the biggest obstacle,” said Christina McCauley, the legislative director of Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), who has participated in multiple telemedicine expansion bills.

Although the public health emergency is currently scheduled to end in mid-January, President Joe Biden is expected to extend it for at least 90 days.

Lobbyists who are concerned about this issue say that the most likely way forward seems to be to expand flexibility for a few more years so that Congress can collect more data on cost and quality.

“I would be surprised if [public health emergency] It’s over, nothing happened,” Macaulay said.

Behavioral health

The leaders of the Senate Finance Committee are looking for ways to expand access to mental health services, possibly through the creation of a workforce, strengthening equality laws and expanding telemedicine.

Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and senior members. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) Require As lawmakers look forward to next year’s bipartisan bill, stakeholders raised their opinions on expanding access to behavioral health care in September.

During the pandemic, the need for mental health care increases, while access to care decreases, according to Government Accountability Office. Even before the pandemic, the demand for behavioral health services was largely unmet.

GAO lists the shortage of behavioral health professionals, the low reimbursement rate of providers, and the capacity of the health system as potential barriers.

One possible problem is Require President Donald Trump and Congress last year enacted medical insurance patients who use telemedicine for mental health care to meet with their practitioners in advance.

Medical associations and advocacy groups debate This requirement is a barrier to mental health care, especially in rural areas with fewer providers. Legislation to eliminate this rule has the support of both parties.

Prior authorization

Bipartisan bill suggested Representatives Susan DelBene (D-Wash.), Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and 244 other members of the House of Representatives will simplify Medicare Advantage’s prior authorization and require faster identification of services scheduled for periodic approval. If a vote is required, the measure now has enough co-sponsors to pass the House of Representatives.

The bill is similar to a rule proposed by the Trump administration that will simplify the pre-authorization requirements for Medicaid and children’s health insurance plans, but does not include medical insurance advantages. The Biden administration suspended the initiative.

The American Hospital Association and other provider groups have push The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services amended and reissued its rules to include Medicare benefits, but the agency has not yet taken steps to do so.

Claire Ernst, director of government affairs for the Medical Group Management Association, said: “I hope that both regulatory and congressional matters will happen.”

Government funding

Congress aims to approve funding for fiscal year 2022 bill At the beginning of next year, this may include nearly 400 million U.S. dollars in special grants for projects in hospitals and other medical institutions. Lobbyists also hope that the package will include $10 billion in funding for hospital infrastructure, which the leaders cut from the Democratic Party. Social Expenditure Act This year.

This year, only the House of Representatives approved funding for the Ministry of Health and Human Services. According to the bill, HHS will increase by nearly 20% over the 2021 fiscal year. These include additional funding for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the healthcare workforce program.

Makra

The Senate Finance Committee is likely to hold a hearing on the implementation of the 2015 Medicare and Chip Reauthorization Act, which promotes value-based care in Medicare’s doctor payment system. Some laws will expire next year, including a 5% bonus for advanced alternative payment models.

Allison Brennan, senior vice president of government affairs for the National ACO Association, said that expiring bonuses “will really undermine the overall shift to value-based care when we should double our investment rather than withdraw it.” .”

In recent years, the participation of responsible medical organizations has declined, partly because of the changes made by the Trump administration in 2018. A bipartisan bill supported by NAACO will cancel these changes.

Legislators also plan to hold a hearing on how MACRA will change the medical insurance physician fee schedule.Last year, CMS provided primary care physicians with Pay money This leads to lower rates for experts. Last year and this year Congress stepped in to prevent the cuts, and lawmakers envisioned a long-term solution so that Congress would not have to deal with the issue every year.