Bill to streamline Medicare contracting sails through committee

A bipartisan bill aimed at reducing paperwork, and simplifying and in some cases easing rules governing Medicare's dealings with healthcare providers and suppliers, easily cleared the House Ways and Means Committee Thursday.

The measure passed on a voice vote.

The bill would give the HHS Secretary and the department's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers the Medicare program, "the tools to manage Medicare program operations more efficiently," said Health Subcommittee Chairwoman Nancy Johnson, R-Conn.

Johnson said it would create "a more collaborative relationship between providers of health care and the CMS. Specifically, the legislation would streamline the regulatory process, enhance education and technical assistance for doctors and other healthcare providers, and protect the rights of providers in the audit and recovery process to ensure that the repayment process is fair and open."

Relations between Medicare officials and providers of health care and other services have sometimes been confrontational, particularly in the recovery process where CMS seeks to force providers to return Medicare money it finds providers have erroneously billed.

Among other things, CMS would be allowed to competitively contract "with the best entities available to process, make payments and answer questions," giving it more flexibility in obtaining services from outside, Johnson said.