Title: COVID–19 Hospice Respite Care Relief Act of 2020
Policy area: Health

Summary:
COVID-19 Hospice Respite Care Relief Act of 2020
This bill authorizes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to waive certain limitations with respect to Medicare coverage of hospice care during the public health emergency relating to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). Specifically, the CMS may allow respite care to be provided in other settings besides inpatient facilities and may allow such care to be provided for up to 15 (rather than up to 5) consecutive days.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4423 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4423

 To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide the Secretary 
 of Health and Human Services with the authority to temporarily modify 
certain Medicare requirements for hospice care during the COVID public 
                           health emergency.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 4, 2020

Mr. Brown (for himself and Mrs. Capito) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide the Secretary 
 of Health and Human Services with the authority to temporarily modify 
certain Medicare requirements for hospice care during the COVID public 
                           health emergency.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``COVID-19 Hospice Respite Care Relief 
Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. SECRETARIAL AUTHORITY TO TEMPORARILY MODIFY CERTAIN MEDICARE 
              REQUIREMENTS FOR HOSPICE CARE DURING THE COVID PUBLIC 
              HEALTH EMERGENCY.

    (a) Authority.--The first sentence of section 1135(b) of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b-5(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (7), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (8), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (8) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(9) the limitations under section 1861(dd)(1)(G) that 
        respite care--
                    ``(A) may only be provided in an inpatient setting; 
                and
                    ``(B) may not be provided consecutively for more 
                than five days (except that the Secretary may not 
                increase the number of consecutive days to more than 15 
                days).''.
    (b) Emergency Period.--Section 1135(g)(1)(B) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b-5(g)(1)(B)) is amended, in the matter preceding 
clause (i), by striking ``subsection (b)(8)'' and inserting 
``paragraphs (8) and (9) of subsection (b)''.
    (c) Implementation.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services may implement the amendments 
made by this section by interim final rule, program instruction, or 
otherwise.
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