COHORT Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6857 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a COVID- 19 skilled nursing facility payment incentive program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 13, 2020 Mr. SUOZZI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a COVID-19 skilled nursing facility payment incentive program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID-19-Only 4 Homes Organized for Resident Treatment Act of 2020’’ 5 or the ‘‘COHORT Act of 2020’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6857.IH H6857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6857 IH SEC. 2. COVID-19 SKILLED NURSING FACILITY PAYMENT IN- 1 CENTIVE PROGRAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1819 of the Social Secu- 3 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i–3) is amended by adding at the 4 end the following new subsection: 5 ‘‘(k) COVID-19 DESIGNATION PROGRAM.— 6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 weeks 7 after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 8 the Secretary shall establish a program under which 9 a skilled nursing facility that makes an election de- 10 scribed in paragraph (2)(A) and meets the require- 11 ments described in paragraph (2)(B) is designated 12 (or a portion of such facility is so designated) as a 13 COVID-19 treatment center and receives incentive 14 payments under section 1888(e)(13). 15 ‘‘(2) DESIGNATION.— 16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A skilled nursing fa- 17 cility may elect to be designated (or to have a 18 portion of such facility designated) as a 19 COVID-19 treatment center under the program 20 established under paragraph (1) if the facility 21 submits to the Secretary, at a time and in a 22 manner specified by the Secretary, an applica- 23 tion for such designation that contains such in- 24 formation as required by the Secretary and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6857.IH H6857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6857 IH demonstrates that such facility meets the re- 1 quirements described in subparagraph (B). 2 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements 3 described in this subparagraph with respect to 4 a skilled nursing facility are the following: 5 ‘‘(i) The facility has a star rating with 6 respect to staffing of 4 or 5 on the Nurs- 7 ing Home Compare website (as described 8 in subsection (i)) and has maintained such 9 a rating on such website during the 2-year 10 period ending on the date of the submis- 11 sion of the application described in sub- 12 paragraph (A). 13 ‘‘(ii) The facility has a star rating of 14 4 or 5 with respect to health inspections on 15 such website and has maintained such a 16 rating on such website during such period. 17 ‘‘(iii) During such period, the Sec- 18 retary or a State has not found a defi- 19 ciency with such facility relating to infec- 20 tion control that the Secretary or State de- 21 termined immediately jeopardized the 22 health or safety of the residents of such fa- 23 cility (as described in paragraph (1) or 24 (2)(A) of subsection (h), as applicable). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6857.IH H6857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6857 IH ‘‘(iv) The facility provides care at 1 such facility (or, in the case of an election 2 made with respect to a portion of such fa- 3 cility, to provide care in such portion of 4 such facility) only to eligible individuals. 5 ‘‘(v) The facility arranges for and 6 transfers all residents of such facility (or 7 such portion of such facility, as applicable) 8 who are not eligible individuals to other 9 skilled nursing facilities (or other portions 10 of such facility, as applicable). 11 ‘‘(vi) The facility complies with the 12 notice requirement described in paragraph 13 (4). 14 ‘‘(vii) The facility meets the reporting 15 requirement described in paragraph (5). 16 ‘‘(viii) Any other requirement deter- 17 mined appropriate by the Secretary. 18 ‘‘(3) DURATION OF DESIGNATION.— 19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A designation of a 20 skilled nursing facility (or portion of such facil- 21 ity) as a COVID-19 treatment center shall 22 begin on a date specified by the Secretary and 23 end upon the earliest of the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6857.IH H6857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6857 IH ‘‘(i) The revocation of such designa- 1 tion under subparagraph (B). 2 ‘‘(ii) The submission of a notification 3 by such facility to the Secretary that such 4 facility elects to terminate such designa- 5 tion. 6 ‘‘(iii) The termination of the program 7 (as specified in paragraph (6)). 8 ‘‘(B) REVOCATION.—The Secretary may 9 revoke the designation of a skilled nursing facil- 10 ity (or portion of such facility) as a COVID-19 11 treatment center if the Secretary determines 12 that the facility is no longer in compliance with 13 a requirement described in paragraph (2)(B). 14 ‘‘(4) RESIDENT NOTICE REQUIREMENT.—For 15 purposes of paragraph (2)(B)(vi), the notice require- 16 ment described in this paragraph is that, not later 17 than 72 hours before the date specified by the Sec- 18 retary under paragraph (3)(A) with respect to the 19 designation of a skilled nursing facility (or portion 20 of such facility) as a COVID-19 treatment center, 21 the facility provides a notification to each resident of 22 such facility (and to appropriate representatives or 23 family members of each such resident, as specified 24 by the Secretary) that contains the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6857.IH H6857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6857 IH ‘‘(A) Notice of such designation. 1 ‘‘(B) In the case such resident is not an el- 2 igible individual (and, in the case such designa- 3 tion is made only with respect to a portion of 4 such facility, resides in such portion of such fa- 5 cility)— 6 ‘‘(i) a specification of when and where 7 such resident will be transferred (or moved 8 within such facility); 9 ‘‘(ii) an explanation that, in lieu of 10 such transfer or move, such resident may 11 arrange for transfer to such other setting 12 (including a home) selected by the resi- 13 dent; and 14 ‘‘(iii) if such resident so arranges to 15 be transferred to a home, information on 16 Internet resources for caregivers who elect 17 to care for such resident at home. 18 ‘‘(C) Contact information for the State 19 long-term care ombudsman (established under 20 section 307(a)(12) of the Older Americans Act 21 of 1965) for the applicable State. 22 ‘‘(5) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para- 24 graph (2)(B)(vii), the reporting requirement de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6857.IH H6857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6857 IH scribed in this paragraph is, with respect to a 1 skilled nursing facility, that the facility reports 2 to the Secretary, weekly and in such manner 3 specified by the Secretary, the following (but 4 only to the extent the information described in 5 clauses (i) through (vii) is not otherwise re- 6 ported to the Secretary weekly): 7 ‘‘(i) The number of COVID-19 related 8 deaths at such facility. 9 ‘‘(ii) The number of discharges from 10 such facility. 11 ‘‘(iii) The number of admissions to 12 such facility. 13 ‘‘(iv) The number of beds occupied 14 and the number of beds available at such 15 facility. 16 ‘‘(v) The number of residents on a 17 ventilator at such facility. 18 ‘‘(vi) The number of clinical and non- 19 clinical staff providing direct patient care 20 at such facility. 21 ‘‘(vii) Such other information deter- 22 mined appropriate by the Secretary. 23 ‘‘(B) NONAPPLICATION OF PAPERWORK 24 REDUCTION ACT.—Chapter 35 of title 44, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6857.IH H6857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6857 IH United States Code (commonly known as the 1 ‘Paperwork Reduction Act’), shall not apply to 2 the collection of information under this para- 3 graph. 4 ‘‘(6) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this sub- 5 section, the term ‘eligible individual’ means an indi- 6 vidual who, during the 30-day period ending on the 7 first day on which such individual is a resident of a 8 COVID-19 treatment center (on or after the date 9 such center is so designated), was furnished a test 10 for COVID-19 that came back positive. 11 ‘‘(7) TERMINATION.—The program established 12 under paragraph (1) shall terminate upon the termi- 13 nation of the emergency period described in section 14 1135(g)(1)(B). 15 ‘‘(8) PROHIBITION ON ADMINISTRATIVE AND 16 JUDICIAL REVIEW.—There shall be no administrative 17 or judicial review under section 1869, 1878, or oth- 18 erwise of a designation of a skilled nursing facility 19 (or portion of such facility) as a COVID-19 treat- 20 ment center, or revocation of such a designation, 21 under this subsection.’’. 22 (b) PAYMENT INCENTIVE.—Section 1888(e) of the 23 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395yy(e)) is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6857.IH H6857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6857 IH (1) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding 1 subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and (12)’’ and in- 2 serting ‘‘(12), and (13)’’; and 3 (2) by adding at the end the following new 4 paragraph: 5 ‘‘(13) ADJUSTMENT FOR COVID-19 TREATMENT 6 CENTERS.—In the case of a resident of a skilled 7 nursing facility that has been designated as a 8 COVID-19 treatment center under section 1819(k) 9 (or in the case of a resident who resides in a portion 10 of such facility that has been so designated), if such 11 resident is an eligible individual (as defined in para- 12 graph (5) of such section), the per diem amount of 13 payment for such resident otherwise applicable shall 14 be increased by 20 percent to reflect increased costs 15 associated with such residents.’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6857.IH H6857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS