TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Title I: Medicare Home Health Care Interim Payment System
Refinement
Title II: Veterans Medicare Access Improvement
Title III: Authorization of Additional Exceptions to
Imposition of Penalties for Certain Inducements
Title IV: Expansion of Membership of the Medicare Payment
Advisory Commission
Title V: Revenue Offset
Medicare Home Health and Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 1998 - Title I: Medicare Home Health Care Interim Payment System Refinement - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) increase per beneficiary and per visit payment limits under the interim system of limited payments for services provided by home health agencies; and (2) provide for the exclusion of certain additional Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) costs from determination of the Medicare part B monthly premium.
(Sec. 101) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) to report to the Congress on: (1) research paid for by the Secretary on the development of a prospective payment system (PPS) for Medicare home health services; (2) the schedule for PPS implementation; and (3) one or more alternative means to provide for savings equivalent to the savings estimated to be made by the mandatory 15 percent reduction in payment limits for such home health services for FY 2000.
Directs the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) to: (1) report to the Congress its analysis of the Secretary's report, including any recommendations; and (2) include in its annual report to the Congress for June 1999 an analysis of whether changes in law made by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA '97) and this Act with respect to payments for Medicare home health services impede access to them by Medicare beneficiaries.
Directs the Comptroller General of the United States to audit the sums obligated or expended by the Health Care Financing Administration for PPS research and the information it has provided.
Title II: Veterans Medicare Access Improvement - Amends SSA title XVIII, as amended by BBA '97, for the express purpose of improving certain veterans' access to Medicare health care services through a jointly administered program and related demonstration project under the jurisdiction of the Secretary and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Describes such program and demonstration project, the sites where they will be conducted, and their duration. Provides certain funding restrictions. Repeals BBA '97 requirements relating to an implementation plan for veterans subvention.
(Sec. 201) Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress on a method to phase-in the costs of military facility services furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense to Medicare-eligible beneficiaries in the calculation of an area's Medicare+Choice capitation payment.
Title III: Authorization of Additional Exceptions to Imposition of Penalties for Certain Inducements - Amends SSA title XI to authorize additional exceptions to the imposition of penalties for providing inducements to beneficiaries. Provides for extension of advisory opinion authority.
Title IV: Expansion of Membership of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission - Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for the expansion of the membership of MedPAC, and stagger the initial terms of members.
Title V: Revenue Offset - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the adjusted gross income ceiling for qualified rollover contributions to a Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA) from a non-Roth IRA. Limits application of the ceiling to the taxable year of the distribution for which the contribution applies. Increases the ceiling from $100,000 to $145,000 ($290,000 in the case of a joint return). Repeals the disallowance of a contribution for any married taxpayer filing a separate return.