The legislation passed the Senate in a 54-46 vote and President Donald Trump signed it into law on March 15.
The House had earlier passed the bill on March 11 in a 217-213 vote, ensuring government operations continue through Sept. 30. Key healthcare provisions in the bill include:
- Elimination of Medicaid DSH cuts through Sept. 30
- Extension of telehealth waivers and the hospital-at-home program through Sept. 30
- Expansion of the enhanced low-volume adjustment program through Sept. 30 and the Medicare-dependent hospital program through Oct. 1
- Continuation of add-on payments for rural ambulance services through Oct. 1
However, the bill does not address the 2.83% Medicare physician pay cut, a major setback for physicians and medical groups. A temporary 2.5% Medicare physician pay bump that took effect Jan. 1 is absent from the funding package. The legislation does, however, renew a boost to the Medicare work geographic practice cost index, which benefits rural physicians.
“The passage of the CR without a Medicare physician payment fix represents a massive congressional failure,” Anders Gilberg, senior vice president of government affairs for the Medical Group Management Association, said in a March 14 statement shared with Becker’s. “To avoid this annual chaos, which increasingly threatens beneficiary access to care, Congress must realize permanent, sustainable solutions, such as implementing an annual, inflation-based physician payment update tied to the full Medicare Economic Index and modernizing Medicare’s antiquated budget neutrality policies.”
Later this month, the Senate is set to vote on a Republican-backed bill that aims to cut federal spending by up to $2 trillion over 10 years. The proposal calls for at least $880 billion in reductions through fiscal 2034, with Medicaid likely facing the deepest cuts.
A March 5 Congressional Budget Office report found that achieving $880 billion in savings would require substantial cuts to Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.