The House has delayed a vote on the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act from the schedule of bills that were to be voted on during the last week before adjourning for the August recess. The IMPACT Act (H.R. 4994/S. 2553) is bipartisan, bicameral legislation that requires post-acute care providers to report standardized patient assessment data.

The IMPACT Act was pulled from the floor because the Budget Committee at the last minute required that the bill be offset, even though the cost was so small that it normally would not register in Congressional Budget Office estimates.  The CBO estimated the cost of the legislation as $43 million over ten years.  While this is a very small cost, the House Ways and Means Committee will not develop an offset until they convene after the August recess.  The vote will now likely occur in early-September, when Congress reconvenes.

NASL has strongly supported the efforts in the development of this legislation, and believes that the IMPACT Act is on the right track in addressing long-standing issues in the post-acute care sector.  We do have several ongoing concerns, and we look forward to continuing to work on additional refinements as the bill moves through the legislative process.

You can access a copy of NASL’s letter here:  http://nasl.mymemberfuse.com/resources2/view/profile/id/46016