Last weekend the Senate passed a bill that could, if negotiated successfully with and adopted by the House, temporarily end the current federal government shutdown.
Included in the Senate-passed bill are so-called health care extenders that are important to many hospitals, including:
- A delay in cuts in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (Medicaid DSH) allotments to the states.
- A temporary extension of COVID-era telehealth flexibilities.
- Extension of the Medicare low-volume hospital and Medicare-dependent hospital programs.
- Extension of authorization for Medicare’s Acute Hospital at Home program.
- Extension of funding for Community Health Centers and teaching hospitals that operate graduate medical education (GME) programs.
If adopted, these restorations would be retroactive to October 1, 2025 and would extend through January 30, 2026, which is when the next continuing resolution would expire. It also appears possible that the bill will include a provision that will reimburse providers for Medicare-covered telehealth services they have continued to provide even after the authorization for such payments ended on October 1.
The bill does not include the restoration of Affordable Care Act enhanced premium subsidies that expired at the end of federal FY 2025 but does call for a Senate vote in December on extending those subsidies. It also would fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) through the 2026 fiscal year.
Learn more about the path the Senate has laid toward ending the federal government shutdown from the Becker’s Hospital Review article “Senate advances potential funding deal sans ACA subsidy extension” and from this section-by-section summary of the measure the Senate passed, which was prepared by Senate Appropriations Committee staff.