I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2356 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to make technical amendments to the separate payment under the Medicare program for disposable negative pressure wound therapy devices. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 5, 2021 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD (for himself and Mr. MULLIN) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and 

in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of 

such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to make 

technical amendments to the separate payment under 

the Medicare program for disposable negative pressure 

wound therapy devices. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Better Wound Care 

5 at Home Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO MEDICARE SEPA2 RATE PAYMENT FOR DISPOSABLE NEGATIVE 

3 PRESSURE WOUND THERAPY DEVICES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1834(s) of the Social Se5 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(s)) is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the 

7 following new sentence: ‘‘Effective as of January 1, 

8 2022, such separate payment shall be a national 

9 payment rate established each year for the applica10 ble disposable device itself, and not for the related 

11 professional services or home visit to furnish the de12 vice, and shall be made under the prospective pay13 ment system established under section 1895, as an 

14 add-on payment for the device in addition to other 

15 payments available to a home health agency under 

16 such section.’’; 

17 (2) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the 

18 following new sentences: ‘‘In calculating the separate 

19 payment amount for applicable disposable devices in 

20 a given year, the Secretary shall assume no facility 

21 level adjustments are applied and the wage adjust22 ment factor shall be 1.0, regardless of the wage ad23 justment factor that would otherwise apply under 

24 section 1833(t). The separate payment for the appli25 cable disposable device shall be made under the pro26 spective payment system established under section 


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1 1895, and nothing in this paragraph shall be con2 strued to authorize the separate payment for the ap3 plicable disposable device to be under a different 

4 payment system.’’; and 

5 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

6 paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(4) IMPLEMENTATION.—As part of submitting 

8 claims eligible for or related to the separate add-on 

9 payment established under this subsection, the Sec10 retary shall accept and process claims submitted 

11 using the type of bill that is most commonly used by 

12 home health agencies to bill services under a home 

13 health plan of care, and the Secretary shall not re14 quire home health agencies to account for the time 

15 spent applying the applicable disposable device sepa16 rately from the time spent treating other conditions 

17 or to submit claims for payment under a payment 

18 system other than the prospective payment system 

19 established under section 1895. Notwithstanding any 

20 other provision of law, the Secretary may implement 

21 this subsection by program instruction or other22 wise.’’. 

Æ 


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