II 111th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 421 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 12, 2009 Mr. Specter introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To impose a temporary moratorium on the phase out of the Medicare hospice budget neutrality adjustment factor.

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Short title

This Act may be cited as the Hospice Protection Act.

2.

Temporary moratorium on phase out of the medicare hospice budget neutrality adjustment factor

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including provisions contained in the final rule published on August 8, 2008, on pages 46464 to 46522 of volume 73 of the Federal Register (relating to part 418 of title 42, code of Federal Regulations), during the period that begins on the date of enactment of this section and ends on December 31, 2009, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall recompute and apply the final Medicare hospice wage index for fiscal year 2009 as if the Budget Neutrality Adjustment Factor had remained in place with no reduction.