Stopgap Funding Bill Passes Congress, Headed to President’s Desk

Late Wednesday night, the Senate passed a stopgap funding bill, averting a government shutdown before the deadline on Friday, November 17. The bill passed by a vote of 87-11 and is headed to the president’s desk for signature. The House of Representatives passed the bill earlier this week by a vote of 336-95.

The bill will fund the government at current levels for a subset of federal agencies through January 19 and the remainder through February 2, 2024. The legislation contains only few healthcare-related provisions, including another one-year delay of the scheduled clinical lab cuts. 

Unfortunately, the bill does not contain a number of healthcare-related policies that Congress had under consideration, such as an increase to the Medicare physician fee schedule conversion factor, an extension of Advanced Alternative Payment Model incentive payments, or a provision to allow for the resumption of home delivery of needed oral medications.  The Network will continue advocating alongside other physician advocacy organizations for Congress to address these critical items before the end of the year and to increase the sustainability of Medicare physician payment in the long term.  

To read the text of the Continuing Resolution, CLICK HERE.