On October 6, 2014, President Obama signed into law H.R. 4994, the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (the “IMPACT Act”). The IMPACT Act’s provisions will affect a broad range of post-acute care (PAC) providers: home health agencies (HHAs), skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), and long-term acute care hospitals (LTCHs). Various facets of daily operations of these PAC providers will change as a result of the Act and ensuing regulations: what information PAC providers must collect and report, the information the public will receive about PAC providers, and the method of determining future Medicare payments to PAC providers, among others. The IMPACT Act also increases survey frequency for Medicare-certified hospice programs. A Reed Smith client alert summarizing the Impact Act is available here. Separately, President Obama also signed into law a number of other health policy bills approved by Congress, including the following:
- H.R. 594, Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Community Assistance, Research and Education Amendments of 2014, which revises and expands research, surveillance, and education activities relating to muscular dystrophy at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and expands the federal agencies comprising the Muscular Dystrophy Coordinating Committee;
- S. 2154, Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act of 2014, which reauthorizes appropriations through fiscal year 2019 for a program to provide high‑quality emergency medical care to children; and
- H.R. 4631, Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support (CARES) Act of 2014, which reauthorizes Combating Autism Act funding for autism research, screening, intervention, and education activities, as well as an HHS coordinating committee.