White House-backed bill to help states track banned providers passes House

The Ensuring Removal of Terminated Providers from Medicaid and CHIP Act (HR 3716), which helps states identify healthcare providers who have been banned from Medicare, a Medicaid program, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, has been unanimously approved by the U.S. House.

The legislation also included The Medicaid Directory of Caregivers Act (HR 3821), which requires states operating a fee-for-service or primary care case management program to provide a directory of physicians who served Medicaid patients in the prior year.

U.S. Representatives Chris Collins and Paul Tonko, who introduced HR 3821, both spoke on today’s news.

“Ensuring Medicaid beneficiaries can quickly and easily find out what doctors they can visit is a commonsense and simple fix,” Collins said in a prepared statement. “This legislation will increase health care access and efficiency for the most vulnerable, while reducing emergency room care. It’s a win-win. I want to thank Congressman Tonko for his steadfast efforts in helping to pass this vital reform through the House and look forward to this legislation being signed into law.”

“Ensuring Medicaid beneficiaries have the all the information they need when seeking care is a commonsense safeguard in our system,” Tonko said in the same statement. “This bill will make it easier for patients to know their options and find a doctor. I have enjoyed working with Congressman Collins on this legislation, and I thank him for his work to improve care for Medicaid patients.”

The White House showed its support of the bill with a Statement of Administration Policy released earlier this week.

“The Affordable Care Act requires that State Medicaid programs terminate participation of health care providers that have been terminated by Medicare or another State Medicaid program,” the statement read. “This legislation would improve States' ability to fulfill this requirement by codifying this requirement in CHIP, requiring providers participating in Medicaid and CHIP managed care to enroll with the State, and increasing required reporting, sharing of information, and standardization of documentation of reasons for termination.”