The House approved the historic 21st Century Cures Act on Wednesday with provisions led by House Ways and Means Committee members U.S. Reps. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Pat Tiberi (R-OH).
The 21st Century Cures medical innovation package would improve patient treatments by investing more than $6 billion in public health and medical research over the next 10 years. It would also reform the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process for treatments and medical devices.
Three measures led by Jenkins were included in the package: the Rural Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) Provider Equity Act, the Continuing Access to Hospitals Act and the Mental Health First Aid Act.
“This legislation improves access to healthcare for rural communities through measures I introduced such as the Continuing Access To Hospitals Act, which stops unjustified regulations from interfering with rural healthcare providers offering quality services, and the Rural ACO Provider Equity Act, which will ensure the work of physicians assistants and nurse practitioners is recognized so that rural hospitals can join ACOs and afford to remain open and serve our rural communities,” Jenkins said on the House floor.
Meanwhile, the Mental Health First Aid Act would help the 40 million Americans who suffer from mental illness each year, Jenkins added.
“This bipartisan legislation delivers $15 million every year to train police officers, teachers, veterans’ advocates and others to identify and aid those with a mental illness, building a stronger mental health safety net in America that addresses the needs of millions of Americans,” Jenkins said.
The 21st Century Cures Act also includes Kelly’s Medicare Advantage Coverage Transparency Act, which would require the Department of Health and Human Services to report to Congress annually on program enrollment.
“I am particularly proud that this powerful legislation includes my House-passed bill to make Medicare Advantage coverage more transparent for the benefit of our nation’s seniors,” Kelly said. “This bill will bring key Medicare enrollment details into public view and equip lawmakers with important information so that we may make better decisions on behalf of our elderly constituents.”
Three bills introduced by Tiberi also were included in the landmark package: the Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act, the Sustaining Healthcare Integrity and Fair Treatment Act and the Medicare Home Infusion Site of Care Act.
“The first is a bill that provides necessary regulatory relief to providers and fixes a site-neutral policy to hospitals that were in the middle of construction when the policy went into effect,” Tiberi said.
“Second, the 21st Century Cures Act gives relief to long-term care hospitals from the 25 percent rule and contains common sense Medicare reforms. Lastly, this bill includes a provision of a bill I sponsored to provide infusion therapy to Medicare beneficiaries in their home,” he added.