P.L. 113–93, Approved April 1, 2014 (128Stat. 1040)

Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

SEC 1. [42 USC 1305 note]  Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014

This Act may be cited as the “Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014”.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

SEC. 111. EXTENSION OF TWO-MIDNIGHT RULE.

(a)  Continuation of Certain Medical Review Activities.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services may continue medical review activities described in the notice entitled “Selecting Hospital Claims for Patient Status Reviews: Admissions On or After October 1, 2013[470]”, posted on the Internet website of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, through the first 6 months of fiscal year 2015 for such additional hospital claims as the Secretary determines appropriate.

(b)  Limitation.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall not conduct patient status reviews (as described in such notice) on a post-payment review basis through recovery audit contractors under section 1893(h) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ddd(h)) for inpatient claims with dates of admission October 1, 2013, through March 31, 2015, unless there is evidence of systematic gaming, fraud, abuse, or delays in the provision of care by a provider of services (as defined in section 1861(u) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(u))).

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

SEC. 212. DELAY IN TRANSITION FROM ICD-9 TO ICD-10 CODE SETS.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services may not, prior to October 1, 2015, adopt ICD–10 code sets as the standard for code sets under section 1173(c) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2(c)) and section 162.1002 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

SEC. 215. SKILLED NURSING FACILITY VALUE-BASED PURCHASING.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

(c)  MedPAC Study.—Not later than June 30, 2021, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission shall submit to Congress a report that reviews the progress of the skilled nursing facility value-based purchasing program established under section 1888(h) of the Social Security Act, as added by subsection (b), and makes recommendations, as appropriate, on any improvements that should be made to such program. For purposes of the previous sentence, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission shall consider any unintended consequences with respect to such skilled nursing facility value-based purchasing program and any potential adjustments to the readmission measure specified under section 1888(g)(1) of such Act, as added by subsection (a), for purposes of determining the effect of the socio-economic status of a beneficiary under the Medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act for the SNF performance score of a skilled nursing facility provided under section 1888(h)(4) of such Act, as added by subsection (b).

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

SEC. 217.  REVISIONS UNDER THE MEDICARE ESRD PROSPECTIVE PAYMENT SYSTEM

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

(c)  Drug Designations.—As part of the promulgation of annual rule for the Medicare end stage renal disease prospective payment system under section 1881(b)(14) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395rr(b)(14)) for calendar year 2016, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this subsection referred to as the “Secretary”) shall establish a process for—

(1)  determining when a product is no longer an oral-only drug; and

(2)  including new injectable and intravenous products into the bundled payment under such system.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

(e) Audits of Cost Reports of ESRD Providers as Recommended by MedPAC.—

(1)  In general.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall conduct audits of Medicare cost reports beginning during 2012 for a representative sample of providers of services and renal dialysis facilities furnishing renal dialysis services.

(2)  Funding.—For purposes of carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall provide for the transfer from the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund established under section 1841 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395t) to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Program Management Account of $18,000,000 for fiscal year 2014. Amounts transferred under this paragraph for a fiscal year shall be available until expended.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

SEC. 220. ENSURING ACCURATE VALUATION OF SERVICES UNDER THE PHYSICIAN FEE SCHEDULE

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

(i)  Disclosure of Data Used To Establish Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction Policy.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall make publicly available the information used to establish the multiple procedure payment reduction policy to the professional component of imaging services in the final rule published in the Federal Register, v. 77, n. 222, November 16, 2012, pages 68891–69380[471] under the physician fee schedule under section 1848 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–4).

*    *    *    *    *    *    *



[470]  Available at https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Monitoring-Programs/Medicare-FFS-Compliance-Programs/Medical-Review/Downloads/SelectingHospitalClaimsForAdmissionsForPosting02242014.pdf, retrieved on March 1, 2019.

[471]  Available at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2012/11/16/2012-26900/medicare-program-revisions-to-payment-policies-under-the-physician-fee-schedule-dme-face-to-face, retrieved March 1, 2019.