WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress may be forced to delay until early 2023 final agreement on funding the government through the end of its fiscal year, instead relying on a stopgap measure to keep the lights on, the top Senate Republican said on Tuesday.
The federal government is currently set to run out of money on Dec. 16 without a vote on either an "omnibus" bill funding the government through Sept. 30, 2023, or a short-term bill known as a "continuing resolution," or CR.
"We're running out of time, and that may end up being the only option left that we could agree to pursue," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told reporters a day after meeting his Democratic counterpart Chuck Schumer to discuss a comprehensive omnibus package.
"We don't have agreements to do virtually anything," McConnell said. "We don't even have an overall agreement on how much we want to spend."
An omnibus bill would be expected to exceed the $1.5 trillion funding package Congress approved last March. Senator Richard Shelby, the top Republican appropriator, said the two sides were about $25 billion apart, which he described as "pretty close."
McConnell spoke the day after House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News negotiators should hold off until January, when the new Congress with a slim Republican majority in the House is sworn in.
A Republican congressional aide, who asked for anonymity to describe intra-party dynamics, said McCarthy's warning was meant to pressure Democrats to move forward on an omnibus deal. The aide added that McCarthy has privately backed a longer-term bill to avoid a funding stand-off early in 2023.
Schumer acknowledged that there was still "a lot of negotiating left to do" to get an omnibus bill.
"Leader McConnell and I have agreed to try and work together to make sure we get a year-long omnibus funding bill done. We hope it can be done this year," Schumer told reporters.
New hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses, especially influenza and COVID-19, are spiking following the Thanksgiving holiday. Flu hospitalizations “remain at a decade high” and COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased more than 20% compared to the previous week.
While RSV may have peaked in some areas, overall increases in hospitalizations from COVID-19 and flu in adult and pediatric populations puts additional strain on hospitals that are already at or above capacity. Such strain, especially with months of the respiratory season still ahead, may further constrain capacity to care for critically ill patients of all ages across the US.
Some facilities have reported upticks in illness in staff, creating staffing impacts that further constrain the surge capacity of hospitals and other facilities.
CDC is encouraging use of masks to help prevent spread of COVID-19, flu, and RSV during the holiday season.
The uptake of COVID-19 and influenza vaccines will be a crucial factor for limiting respiratory-related hospitalizations throughout the winter months.
Vaccination rates of children for both COVID-19 and influenza remain very low. American Academy of Pediatrics analysis based on CDC data shows only 10% of children aged 6 months to 4 years old have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
As of 11/19, about 40% of children between the ages of 6 months and 17 years have been vaccinated for influenza for the 2022-2023 season.
Advocate to Stop Pending Medicare Cuts and PTA Supervision
We are only a few weeks away from the deadline to pass critical legislation to stop Medicare cuts. Congress is putting together large legislative packages, known as an omnibus bill, and we need to ensure that legislation that will address Medicare cuts and PTA supervision are included in these packages. Please take a few minutes to ask Congress to include the Supporting Medicare Providers Act (H.R. 8800) and the SMART Act (H.R. 5536) in any year-end legislative package.
Your constituent voice is important now more than ever. The inclusion of this legislation won’t happen if you, as the constituent, don’t ask for it.
Remember, advocacy only takes a minute or two to complete. The bipartisan bill now in the Senate would replace the direct supervision requirement for private practice with general supervision for PTA's. APTA really pushing this per number of emails asking to advocate just this month.
Use APTA’s Patient Action Center to ask your legislators to include the Medicare Providers Act (H.R. 8800) and the SMART Act (H.R. 5536) in any year-end packages.
Your MIPS Status May Have Changed: Here's How to Find Out
APTA
CMS has updated eligibility determinations based on the most recent reporting periods. Make sure you know where you stand.
Think you know where you stand when it comes to participation in Medicare's Merit-based Incentive Payment System, or MIPS? Are you sure things haven't changed? There's a way to find out.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has updated its online tool that shows providers whether they're required to participate in MIPS in 2022, and although you think you may know the answer, it's worth checking. The reason? CMS has factored in new data, which means your status may have changed.
The specific data that may have changed your status is related to the second segment of the MIPS eligibility determination period, which ran from October 2021 through September of this year. According to CMS, the status determination now available is final unless you participate in an Advanced Alternative Payment Model, and your status is adjusted due to data related to the most recent APM snapshot for the 2022 performance year.
The online tool also helps you find out if you're excluded from MIPS based on the program's low-volume threshold, which is applied if a provider meets any of the following:
You billed $90,000 or less in Medicare Part B charges during either of the previous two MIPS eligibility determination periods, which ran from October 2020 through September 2021, and from October 2021 through September 2022.
You provided care to 200 or fewer Part B beneficiaries during either of the two determination periods.
You provided 200 or fewer covered professional services during either of the two determination periods.
CMS revisits the participation status tool regularly and expects to offer updates again in July, October, and December 2023. The December 2023 update will include final eligibility determinations for 2023 MIPS performance.
More than 90% of COVID Deaths Occurring Among Elderly Adults: CDC
ABC News / Mary Kekatos
Older people have always been known to be one of the groups at highest risk of death from COVID-19, but they now make up a larger share than ever before.
As of the week ending Nov. 19, Americans aged 65 and older make up 92% of all deaths from the virus, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It's the first time senior citizens have made up more than nine out of 10 deaths since the pandemic began and a drastic increase from the roughly 58% of deaths they made up in summer 2021, an ABC News analysis shows.
An infectious disease expert told ABC News the data showcases the lack of boosters received by the older population and how the impact of the disease is hitting the most vulnerable as protection mounts in the population.
"The bottom line is that age is the most powerful risk factor for COVID deaths and we've known that all along," Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News. "At this point in the pandemic, it's not enough to just get a vaccine series. So, what it reflects is the failure of the older age group to get boosters."
As of Nov. 24, just one-third of people aged 65 and older have received the bivalent boosters, CDC data shows.
The updated booster specifically protects against the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, currently making up about 20% of infections in the U.S.
While this percentage is higher than most other age groups, Chin-Hong said it's still quite low for a group at high risk of severe illness and death.
Want to hear the latest news on the physical therapy industry in Colorado and receive information on upcoming events? Please complete this form and you'll be added to our free email list. If you'd like information on membership, please call us at 303-351-5397 or email [email protected].
Subscribe to receive text message alerts from APTA Colorado about legislative updates, event notifications and more. You will receive no more than five messages per month.
