Responding to LeadingAge’s February 14 letter urging immediate action on the 3-day qualifying hospital stay requirement for skilled nursing care, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, who has the authority to extend the 3-day stay waiver enacted during the COVID-19 public health emergency, explained in a July 19 letter  his refusal to do so.

“As you noted in your letter, eliminating the statutory 3-day requirement of section 1861(i) of the Act on a permanent basis is an action that must be undertaken by Congress,” Becerra wrote. “Recent estimates by the Office of the Actuary have suggested that it could cost the Medicare program upwards of approximately $60 billion over ten years to eliminate the 3-day requirement, primarily due to nursing home residents being shifted from Medicaid-covered long-term care stays into Medicare-covered skilled nursing facility (SNF) stays.”

LeadingAge, while acknowledging that eliminating the 3-day qualifying hospital stay requirement is ultimately an action that must be undertaken by Congress, in February urged Becerra to implement a waiver of the “unreasonable, meaningless, and irresponsible requirement” and “join us in calling for Congress to eliminate it entirely.”

LeadingAge will continue advocacy on this issue with Congress.