Whew! Any possibility of rationality in regards to this issue?....
President Donald Trump late Monday officially signed off on H.R. 6042, a widely supported bill to delay the nationwide deadline for electronic visit verification (EVV) in Medicaid-reimbursed personal care services.
The 21st Century Cures Act, signed into law in 2016 under the Obama Administration, originally required home care providers and state agencies to begin adopting EVV systems by Jan. 1, 2019. H.R. 6042, sponsored by Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Kentucky), pushes that deadline back to Jan. 1, 2020.
The bill passed through both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate without opposition.
Monday’s news of H.R. 6042 becoming law comes with little surprise, as most industry stakeholders anticipated President Trump signing the bill.
In addition to delaying the previously set deadline, H.R. 6042 delays potential penalties providers may have otherwise incurred for failure to fully adopt or at least make progress toward the implementation of EVV in their operations.
The two-page bipartisan bill was presented to the president on July 19. It was co-sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colorado), Rep. James Langevin (D-Rhode Island) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon).
As enrolled, H.R. 6042 also encourages the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to convene at least one public meeting in 2018 to give Medicaid stakeholders the opportunity to provide any necessary feedback related to the implementation process.
Supporters of the bill say it will give officials and providers more time to prepare for a significant change in how care is authenticated. Even so, not all state Medicaid offices plan on taking advantage of the extra leeway.
The Ohio Department of Medicaid, for example, plans to stick to the original timeline, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The decision to move forward as planned was made despite a “firestorm” of complaints lodged when EVV initially started to roll out in the state.