News Alert: Congress Keeps Government Open

Vote on the continuing resolution (CR) helps providers with Advanced Payments.

The U.S. Senate passed a continuing resolution (CR) this evening, which will keep the federal government open through the middle of December.

As the government’s fiscal year ends today (Wednesday) at midnight, the CR was passed just in time. The CR includes provisions helpful for healthcare providers; for one, it allows repayment of Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payments to start a year after the payments are issued. Previously, providers had to start paying back the Advanced Payments within four months.

The CR will also give providers 29 months to repay the Advanced Payments in full, and it lowers the interest rates on the program from about 10 percent to 4 percent.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has given out over $40 billion in Advanced Payments.

The CR also delays a planned $4 billion in cuts to disproportionate share hospitals (DSHs) and provides new assistance to farmers and nutrition aid for families and children.

Programming Note: Listen to Matthew Albright’s live legislative analysis, sponsored by Zelis, on Monitor Mondays, 10 a.m. EST.

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Matthew Albright

Matthew Albright is the chief legislative affairs officer at Zelis Healthcare. Previously, Albright was senior manager at CAQH CORE, and earlier, he was the acting deputy director of the Office of E-Health and Services for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

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