The Nebraska Legislature has given first-round approval to a bill from the Health and Human Services Committee that combined 16 measures to help nursing home patients and hospitals.
All 16 bills were considered noncontroversial and candidates to advance without debate on the consent calendar, but were merged because of the ongoing filibuster on all measures by opponents of the bill banning gender-affirming treatments for minors.
The filibuster took the hospital-nursing home bill the maximum 8 hours of first-round debate before supporters on Monday were able to vote for cloture and then give the bill first-round approval. The cloture vote was 45-0 with the second vote 44-0.
The top provision in the merged bill covers a Medicaid reimbursement gap in Nebraska by requiring the state Dept of Health and Human Services to provide Medicaid reimbursement to a hospital at 100% of the statewide average nursing facility per diem rate for most Medicaid enrollees.
Another section requires the department to set inpatient interim per diem rates for critical access hospitals every two years using the most recent audited Medicare cost report and requires those hospitals to enroll as Medicaid providers.
The bill also gives a million dollars to Health and Human Services to start a pilot program making it easier to transfer patients with complex health needs from eligible acute care hospitals to appropriate post-acute care settings..