COVID–19 Hospice Respite Care Relief Act of 2020

Bill: 116-s-4423
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
Introduced: 2020-08-04
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Cardiovascular and respiratory health

Emergency medical services and trauma care

Infectious and parasitic diseases

Long-term, rehabilitative, and terminal care

Medicare
Latest action: action_date: 2020-08-04
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Summaries:
action_date: 2020-08-04
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>COVID-19 Hospice Respite Care Relief Act of 2020</b></p> <p>This bill authorizes the Centers for Medicare &amp; 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.</p>

tv_txt: II 116th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4423 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the COVID–19 Hospice Respite Care Relief Act of 2020 . 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.