Ways and Means Releases Red Tape Relief Report
This morning, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL), released a report reviewing the ways policymakers can reduce regulatory burdens in the Medicare program. The report is the result of the Committee’s “Medicare Red Tape Relief Project.” This project is a key piece of the Ways and Means Committee’s work to improve Medicare. The report discusses opportunities to reduce regulatory burdens placed on Medicare providers while also ensuring increased efficiency and quality of Medicare programs.
The report includes some critical discussions and acknowledgements of the unique challenges that rural providers struggling with undue regulations face. In April, NRHA Member Leslie Marsh, joined by NRHA’s Regulatory Counsel Diane Calmus, spoke at a bipartisan roundtable with Members of the House Committee on Ways and Means Health Subcommittee on regulatory relief for rural providers. NRHA was invited to join the small roundtable to present the key regulatory reforms needed to support rural communities and providers and ensure access to care. Entitled, “Red Tape Relief Initiative,” the roundtable provided members of the Ways and Means Committee the opportunity to hear from the individuals who must deal with burdensome regulations daily. We were pleased to see that the Committee took the needs of rural providers into consideration in this report.
As the Ways and Means Committee continues to work to reduce regulatory burdens and improve the Medicare program, we hope that they will continue to ensure that the needs of rural providers are considered. The full report can be found here.