[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 29 (Thursday, February 12, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S2230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SPECTER:
  S. 421. A bill to impose a temporary moratorium on the phase out of 
the Medicare hospice budget neutrality adjustment factor; 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 October 
1, 2008, CMS issued a final rule to reduce hospice reimbursement rates 
in Medicare. This reduction of the hospice wage index will take $2.1 
billion out of hospice care for Medicare beneficiaries over the next 5 
years.
  The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, MedPAC, is currently 
examining the payment system for hospice care. We must allow 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, and Rockefeller, will maintain access to hospice care for 
seniors.
  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 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 White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton, to urge him to 
stop the regulation from being finalized and to consider the burden 
that this regulation will put on the hospice community.
  Access to quality compassionate hospice care is critical for Medicare 
beneficiaries. 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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