A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify payment rules for manual wheelchairs under part B of the Medicare program.
Choices for Increased Mobility Act of 2024
Advanced Safe Testing at Residence Telehealth Act of 2023 This bill temporarily establishes several programs to provide telehealth services for at-home testing, evaluations, and other health care. Specifically, the bill establishes a demonstration program to provide assistive telehealth consultations and home- and community-based care for certain Medicare beneficiaries through Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Covered services include certain at-home diagnostic tests, telehealth consultations, transportation services, and meal benefits. Beneficiaries must be (1) age 65 or older and eligible to enroll in a qualifying MA plan and to receive certain low-income subsidies under the Medicare prescription drug benefit, or (2) dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid benefits. The bill also establishes a grant program for state Medicaid programs to cover similar at-home tests and related telehealth consultations. Additionally, the Department of Veterans Affairs must establish a pilot program to provide tests and related telehealth consultations free of charge to veterans.
Oversight of Medicare Billing Code Cost Act
Language Access for Medicare Beneficiaries Act of 2023 This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to translate the annual explanation of Medicare benefits for enrollees into multiple languages, besides English and Spanish. The CMS must prioritize languages into which Social Security documents are translated or that are most frequently requested for purposes of Social Security benefits applications.
This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to revise regulations so as to specifically require Medicare skilled nursing facilities and Medicaid nursing facilities to report the identity of medical directors and related information.
A bill to establish Medicare flex fund accounts and for other purposes.
Building America's Health Care Workforce Act This bill extends certain flexibilities relating to training and competency requirements for nurse aides in Medicare skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and Medicaid nursing facilities (NFs). Generally, SNFs and NFs may not hire nurse aides for longer than four months unless they meet certain training and certification requirements. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services waived some of these requirements during the COVID-19 emergency period so as to allow facilities to maintain adequate staffing levels; the blanket waiver ended in June 2022, though individual facilities, states, and counties may continue to apply for waivers during the emergency period. The bill extends these flexibilities for at least two years after the bill's enactment and specifies that (1) any time worked by a nurse aide during the emergency period counts toward the 75 hours required for initial training, and (2) a competency evaluation may be conducted at the SNF or NF where the nurse aide is employed if the state does not offer such an evaluation at least once a week.
To prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from finalizing a rule proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to place certain limitations on Medicaid payments for home or community-based services.
Health Care Prices Revealed and Information to Consumers Explained Transparency Act or the Health Care PRICE Transparency Act This bill provides statutory authority for requirements for hospitals and health insurance plans to disclose certain information about the costs for items and services. Specifically, hospitals must publish in their list of standard charges certain rates negotiated with insurers, discounts for cash payments, and billing codes. Further, hospitals generally must publish the standard charges for the services provided by the hospital that may be scheduled in advance. Additionally, insurance plans must publish the in-network and out-of-network charges for covered items and services and the negotiated prices for covered prescription drugs. Plans must provide a tool for consumers to search for this cost information. Consumers also may request additional information about the costs of specific items or services under their plans.