Hardship waiver for recoupment of medicare payments

(a)

In general

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the case of a facility described in subsection (b), the Secretary of Health and Human Services— (1)shall waive any recoupment or recovery of alleged medicare overpayments described in subsection (c) in order to permit the facility’s continued provision of critical services to its medicare and underserved populations; and (2)shall not impose any sanction (including any civil monetary penalty or exclusion from participation in any Federal health care program) against the facility in connection with any cost report filing made by the facility relating to such alleged medicare overpayments. (b)

Facility described

A facility described in this subsection is a critical access hospital (as defined in section 1861(mm)(1) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 1395x(mm)(1)) that meets the following requirements (and includes any skilled nursing facility that is contained within the same facility as such critical access hospital): (1)

Sole acute care hospital facility serving rural, underserved area

(A)The facility is located in a rural area (as defined for purposes of such section) that is designated under section 330(b)(3)(A) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b(b)(3)(A)) as an area with a shortage of personal health services. (B)There is no other acute general hospital or critical access hospital that provides inpatient or outpatient hospital services in the county (or equivalent area) in which the facility is located. (2)

Public facility

The facility is operated by a political subdivision of a State. (3)

Improved fiscal management

The facility has made changes in its management so that tax payments described in subsection (c) are being made in a proper and timely manner. (4)

Hurricane Katrina disaster area

The county (or equivalent area) in which the facility is located is an area that— (A)has been declared in accordance with section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) as a result of Hurricane Katrina; and (B)the President has determined, as of September 14, 2005, warrants individual or public assistance from the Federal Government under such Act. (c)

Medicare overpayments described

(1)

In general

The medicare overpayments described in this subsection for a facility are payments made to the facility under title XVIII of the Social Security Act before the date of the enactment of this Act that were attributable to alleged payment of compromised payroll taxes (as defined in paragraph (2)). (2)

Compromised payroll taxes

For purposes of paragraph (1), the term compromised payroll taxes means, with respect to a facility, amounts incurred before the date of the enactment of this Act— (A)that were originally owed by the facility for its share of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) and other payroll taxes; (B)that were not paid; and (C)for which the facility is no longer liable under a tax compromise permitted under section 7122 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.