Rep. Price will reintroduce MPP bill

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 16, 2013—Congressman Tom Price (R-Ga.) has told the American Association for Homecare that he will reintroduce the Market Pricing Program (MPP) legislation in the 113th Congress. He is dedicated to stopping the current bidding program and replacing it with MPP. Price also indicated that he will ask a senior Democratic member of the House to be the co-lead on this important legislation.

Price remains committed to making the legislation budget neutral, meaning it would not require additional spending by the federal government. The new legislation will be very similar to H.R. 6490, which lapsed at the end of the 112th Congress earlier this month, but not before garnering 94 cosponsors. The revised bill will address cost issues identified by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). CBO is responsible for assessing the budget implications of congressional legislation.

Most of the revisions will clarify the intent of the legislation and update the MPP implementation timeline. Price will add a new provision that would establish a payment system for the time period when competitive bidding ends and MPP is fully implemented. This is an area that CBO indicated would result in significant cost for the legislation if not addressed. To remain budget neutral, the interim payment system will use Round Two bid rates in Round Two areas and allow bid items to be supplied by any qualified DME provider.

Congressman Price asked AAHomecare to help gather original cosponsors for the new legislation. The first priority in this effort is contacting the 94 cosponsors of last year’s H.R. 6490 and asking them to be an original cosponsor for the modified bill when it gets reintroduced by Price later this month.

If your Representative was a cosponsor of H.R. 6490, please contact him or her about this new legislation as soon as possible. For those members of Congress who did not cosponsor the legislation in the 112th Congress, this new legislation gives them another opportunity to support a positive, responsible, bipartisan bill that will help home care patients nationwide. If you have any questions or feedback about original cosponsors please contact Jay Witter at [email protected] or 202-372-0751. Also visit www.aahomecare.org.