,i  #aafth ,,congress  #b;d ,session    
,h4 ,r4 #hcbb  ,,in ,,the ,,house ,,of  
,,representatives  ,september #ba1      
#bjbj,mr4 ,balderson 7for himself and   
,ms4 ,shalala7 introduced the following 
bill2 which was referred to the         
,committee on ,ways and ,means1 and in  
addition to the ,committee on ,energy   
and ,commerce1 for a period to be       
subsequently determined by the ,speaker1
 in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the           
jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
,a ,,bill  ,to amend title ,,xi of the  
,social ,security ,act to provide the   
,secretary of ,health and ,human        
,services with the authority to         
temporarily modify certain ,medicare    
requirements for hospice care during the
 ,,covid public health emergency4  #a4  
,short title ,this ,act may be cited as 
the ,,covid-#ai ,hospice ,respite ,care 
,relief ,act of #bjbj4  #b4 ,secretarial
 authority to temporarily modify certain
 ,medicare requirements for hospice care

 during the ,,covid public health       
emergency  7a7 ,authority ,the first    
sentence of section #aace7;b7 of the    
,social ,security ,act 7#db ,u4,s4,c4   
#acbj;b-#e7;b77 is amended-- 7#a7 in    
paragraph 7#g71 by striking and at the  
end2  7#b7 in paragraph 7#h71 by        
striking the period at the end and      
inserting 2 and2 and  7#c7 by inserting 
after paragraph 7#h7 the following new  
paragraph3  7#i7 the limitations under  
section #ahfa7;dd77#a77;,g7 that respite
 care-- 7,a7 may only be provided in an 
inpatient setting2 and  7,b7 may not be 
provided consecutively for more than    
five days 7except that the ,secretary   
may not increase the number of          
consecutive days to more than #ae days74
  4  7b7 ,emergency period ,section     
#aace7;g77#a77;,b7 of the ,social       
,security ,act 7#db ,u4,s4,c4           
#acbj;b-#e7;g77#a77;,b77 is amended1 in 
the matter preceding clause 7i71 by     
striking subsection 7b77#h7 and         
inserting paragraphs 7#h7 and 7#i7 of   

subsection 7b74  7c7 ,implementation    
,notwithstanding any other provision of 
law1 the ,secretary of ,health and      
,human ,services may implement the      
amendments made by this section by      
interim final rule1 program instruction1
 or otherwise4