Relief for SNFs will come in the form of a 25 percent increase in FY 2000 for medically complex cases and for some less-complex rehabilitation cases. The agreement also provides a 3.5 percent increase in payments for all SNF cases in FY 2001 and 2002 after HCFA readjusts SNF payments in October 2000. A one-year delay of the scheduled 15 percent reduction in home health PPS payments was included in the legislation. This measure, while it will benefit teaching hospitals elsewhere, could have a detrimental effect on most Pennsylvania facilities. A provision is also included which would change the 96-hour restriction on individual inpatient stays for critical access hospitals to requirement that the average inpatient stay not exceed 96 hours.
Some temporary relief is included in the bill with a two-year delay on the caps.
UNOS has vehemently opposed the HHS regulations. Just before the Senate cleared the measure, Senator Lott clarified the new organ allocation language. The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act was approved by the Senate on November 19th. Because there are two conflicting measures before Congress on the implementation of the organ allocation regulations, the last of the two bills signed by the President will be the language that becomes law. The bill, H.B. 849, would authorize the attorney general, district attorneys or private plaintiffs to file civil suits against companies that knowingly file false claims.