Congress Prepared To Pass COVID-19 Relief Package

Lawmakers in Washington have reached an agreement on a legislative package that will provide $900 billion in COVID-19 relief and approximately $1.4 trillion in government funding in 2021. Highlights of the health care-related provisions include $3 billion more for the Provider Relief Fund, suspension of the Medicare sequester for the first three months of 2021, surprise medical billing and price transparency requirements, an additional $3 billion for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and the creation of a new Medicare payment designation that allows either a Critical Access Hospital or a small, rural hospital with less than 50 beds to convert to a Rural Emergency Hospital. A high-level summary of the health care-related provisions can be found  here, and a complete copy of the legislation can be found here. Look for more in-depth analysis of the legislation from Hall Render in the coming days.