[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 145 (Friday, September 12, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8480-S8481]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Roberts, Mr. 
        Rockefeller, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Smith):
  S. 3484. A bill to provide for a delay in the phaseout of the hospice 
budget neutrality adjustment factor under title XVIII of the Social 
Security Act; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition today to 
introduce the Medicare Hospice Protection Act, which will place a one-
year moratorium on a final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and 
Medicaid Services, CMS, reducing payments to hospice providers and 
ensure Medicare beneficiaries' access to hospice care.
  More than 1.3 million Americans depend on hospice for high quality 
and compassionate end-of-life care each year. Unfortunately, on August 
1, 2008, CMS issued a final rule to reduce hospice reimbursement rates 
in Medicare. This reduction of the hospice wage index will take $2.3 
billion out of hospice care over the next 5 years if this Congress 
allows it to be implemented as scheduled on October 1, 2008.
  The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, MedPAC, is currently 
examining the payment system for hospice care. We must allow the MedPAC 
to complete this important review of the hospice Medicare benefit and 
make payment recommendations, which is expected in 2009. The Hospice 
Protection Act, introduced by myself and Senators Harkin, Wyden, 
Roberts, Rockefeller and Smith, will provide that time with a one-year 
moratorium on implementation.
  Hospice is an efficient and cost-effective health care model. Hospice 
provides individuals at the end of their lives, as well as their 
families, with comfort and compassion when they are needed most. 
Hospice care enables a person to retain his or her dignity and maintain 
quality of life during the end of life. An independent Duke University 
study in 2007 showed that patients receiving hospice care cost the 
Medicare program about $2,300 less than

[[Page S8481]]

those who did not, resulting in an annual savings of more than $2 
billion.
  In April 28, 2008, just before the Notice of Proposed Rule Making was 
released, a bipartisan group of more than 40 Senators wrote to 
Secretary Leavitt and asked him to stop further action and wait for 
MedPAC recommendations on hospice payment issues. On July 28, 2008, 
before the final rule was released, Senators Harkin, Wyden, Roberts and 
I wrote to the White House, to urge them to stop the regulation from 
being finalized and to consider the burden that this regulation will 
put on the hospice community.
  Our repeated requests have been ignored, so we are introducing this 
legislation to keep CMS from implementing a short-sighted and 
irresponsible cut to end-of-life care. I ask my fellow Senators to join 
me in support of the Hospice Protection Act and to work toward its 
swift passage.
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