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- President Biden Signs Funding Bill to Stop Federal Shutdown; Delays Clinical Lab Fee Cuts for 1 Year
President Biden signed a stopgap spending bill, sometimes called a continuing resolution or CR, to fund part of the government until mid-January and the remaining programs within the annual appropriations process through early February. The bill will extend funding until January 19 for priorities including military construction, veterans’ affairs, transportation, housing, and the Energy Department. The rest of the government – anything not covered by the first step – would be funded until February 2. Importantly for pathologists and their laboratories, Medicare cuts to the Medicare clinical laboratory fee schedule were also delayed by one year in the bill (see next story).
Now Congress will then have two separate deadlines to pass full-year fiscal 2024 appropriations bills. The House has passed seven of the 12 annual appropriations bills that Congress must approve each year. Regular appropriations bills are the twelve standard bills that cover the funding for the federal government for one fiscal year.
The CR did not include funding to provide relief to physicians at a time when burnout and practice costs are increasing. Therefore, the CAP will continue to call on Congress to pass legislation to mitigate the impact of the Medicare Cuts before the end of the year.