THE DAILY WHIP: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016

H.Res. 632 – Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 3716  – Ensuring Access to Quality Medicaid Providers Act (Rep. Buchson – Energy and Commerce) (One hour of debate). The Rules Committee has recommended a structured Rule that provides for one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.  The Rule allows for 4 amendments, debatable for 10 minutes equally divided between the offeror and an opponent.  The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, and waives all points of order against the legislation.

H.R. 3716 – Ensuring Access to Quality Medicaid Providers Act (Rep. Buchson – Energy and Commerce) (One hour of debate).  H.R. 3716 is a combination of two bills intended to strengthen and improve programintegrity in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

The bill would create additional requirements for Medicaid and CHIP, like data reporting, to ensure that states have all information necessary to enforce certain requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and would require that states pay back the federal portion of Medicaid and CHIP payments made to terminated providers for services performed more than sixty days after a provider’s termination.  The ACA contained a provision that prohibited providers terminated “for cause” relating to quality, integrity, or fraud, in one state’s Medicaid program from participating in another state’s program. 

The legislation contains the language from H.R. 3821 – Medicaid Directory of Caregivers Act, which will increase the efficiency of the Medicaid program by creating a searchable database that is more patient friendly.  It would provide beneficiaries served under the Medicaid fee-for-service or primary care case management programs with a directory of physicians participating in the program so those patients can receive the most up to date information and are able to find doctors who accept Medicaid more quickly and efficiently.  

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the bill would reduce direct spending by $28 million over the next ten years.  Both H.R. 3716 and H.R. 3821  have Democratic co-sponsors and passed out of committee by voice vote.  This commonsense legislation will help to streamline the Medicaid and CHIP programs which will make them more patient and provider friendly and will help states and providers meet requirements set in place by the ACA.

The Statement of Administration Policy indicates that the Administration supports House passage of H.R. 3716 because it improves program integrity for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

The Rule makes in order 4 amendments, debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided between the offeror and an opponent.  The amendments are:

Bucshon/Collins (NY)/Welch/Tonko Manager’s Amendment. Makes technical changes to the bill. The amendment changes the short title to better capture both sections of the bill and changes the effective dates throughout the bill to ensure that states and the Secretary of Health and Human Services have the time necessary to correctly implement the provisions. The amendment adds a requirement for the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services to report on implementation of the requirements regarding providers disenrolled for reasons related to fraud, integrity and quality. Finally, the amendment clarifies that the fee-for-service provider directory is to include physicians and, at state option, other providers, and provides other information that could be included in the directory.
Jackson Lee Amendment #2. Provides that the effective date for inclusion of a provider termination for a Medicaid or CHIP provider in the HHS termination database begins after all provider appeals of that determination has expired, which restates a  provision already in the underlying provision itself and the bill.
Jackson Lee Amendment #3. Requires an annual report to Congress from the Secretary of HHS on the  demographics of terminated Medicaid and CHIP providers in the database, as well as the demographics of specific patients served by those terminated providers.
Moore Amendment. Requires states to update on a more expedited basis directory information regarding whether a provider is accepting new Medicaid patients.

Bill Text for H.R. 3716: 
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 3716:
House Report (PDF Version)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Thursday, March 3: The House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business.  The House is expected to consider H.R. 4557– Blocking Regulatory Interference from Closing Kilns Act of 2016 (Rep. Johnson (OH) – Energy and Commerce) (Subject to a Rule).