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House passes anti-opioid bill, offers to extend Medicare secondary payer period
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Members of the House of Representatives approved legislation June 22 to target treatment for opioid addiction and offered to extend the Medicare secondary payer provision for dialysis providers to help pay for the cost of the program.
The Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act, introduced by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., on June 13, would re-direct Medicare payments for kidney care over the next 10 years to help cover the cost of the addiction treatment programs. To cover those losses of Medicare funds to pay for dialysis care, providers would be able to extend treatment charges to commercial health plans for an extra 3 months — from the current 30 to 33 — as the primary payer for dialysis treatments. Medicare would remain as the secondary payer.
The Medicare secondary payer provision would not be extended until Jan. 1, 2020.
The bill is now headed to the Senate, where lawmakers are planning to take up their own opioid treatment legislation.
Reference:
https://policy.house.gov/legislative/bills/hr-6-substance-use-disorder-prevention-promotes-opioid-recovery-and-treatment.