Hatch, Wyden, Isakson, Warner Introduce Bill to Address Chronic Illness

WASHINGTON – Today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., along with Senators Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Mark Warner, D-Va., co-chairs of the Finance Committee Chronic Care Working Group applauded the introduction of S. 3504, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act of 2016, a bipartisan bill to strengthen and improve health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries living with chronic conditions.

“This bill is the result of bipartisan cooperation and advances our efforts to improve outcomes for patients with chronic conditions,” the Senators said. “This legislation puts in place much-needed reforms that provide patients with more access to coordinated care with increased quality and efficiency. At the same time, this bill takes an important step in laying the foundation to bend the Medicare cost curve for taxpayers. As we work to move this bill forward and see it enacted into law, we remain committed to ensuring the legislation does not add a single dime to the deficit.”

A summary of the CHRONIC Care Act of 2016 can be found here.

Background:

Announced at a May 2015 hearing on chronic care, the Committee formed the bipartisan Chronic Care Working Group to explore cost effective solutions to improve health outcomes for Medicare patients living with one or more chronic conditions. The working group produced a policy options paper in December 2015 and called for stakeholder input into the groups’ ideas. The working group received 327 submissions from interested stakeholders across the country who provided thoughtful ideas on ways the Medicare program can better deliver health care to beneficiaries with multiple chronic illness.  Those submissions were considered by working group members to craft a discussion draft released in October of this year.

Two key policies outlined in the discussion draft were included in the 21^st Century Cures Act: a provision ensuring that individuals who qualify for Medicare with end-stage renal disease may choose a Medicare Advantage plan beginning in 2021; and a provision updating the Medicare Advantage Risk Adjustment Model to more accurately account for individuals with multiple chronic conditions. These provisions are in addition to the four policies recommended by the working group that were adopted through regulatory action over the lifetime of the process. More information on those provisions can be found here.

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