This bill, introduced by Representatives Debbie Dingell and Eleanor Norton, would require the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMI) to create and run a test model. The model must be started within 1 year of the bill’s enactment. Under the test, blood transfusions given to a person receiving hospice care would be paid separately from the hospice all-inclusive per diem payment. The separate payment amount would be the same amount that would apply under Medicare title XVIII if the transfusion were not provided as part of hospice care. The bill also adds evaluation rules. CMI must compare patients in the model with similar patients outside the model using several measures, including chemotherapy in the last 14 days of life; hospital use in the last 30 days of life (ER visits, inpatient and observation stays, length of stay, and ICU days); days in hospice before death; and counts and frequency of transfusions for hospice versus non-hospice patients. The bill lets CMI review other areas it finds appropriate.
If you are a Medicare beneficiary who receives hospice care, this bill would require a federal testing program to try separate payments for blood transfusions. That testing program would compare care use and patterns for patients in the test to similar patients who are not in the test. The testing could affect hospice providers and patients only if they participate in the CMI model.
No publicly available information on overall costs or budget effects is included in the bill text. The bill does specify that the separate payment for a transfusion should equal the amount that would apply under Medicare title XVIII if the transfusion were not furnished as part of hospice care.
No publicly available information on proponents' arguments or statements is included in the provided bill text or metadata.
No publicly available information on opponents' arguments or statements is included in the provided bill text or metadata.