S. 924 — Further Additional Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2025

This section extends funding for community health centers to $132,602,740, for the National Health Service Corps to $10,963,593, and for teaching health centers that operate graduate medical education programs to $6,058,748, for the period beginning on April 1, 2025, and ending on April 11, 2025. It subjects these amounts to the requirements for funds under sections 330 through 340 of the Public Health Service Act and makes a conforming amendment to section 3014(h)(4) of title 18, United States Code.

This section extends funding for the Special Diabetes Program for Type 1 Diabetes and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians by providing $4,798,658 for each program for the period beginning on April 1, 2025, and ending on April 11, 2025.

This section extends to April 11, 2025 (from March 31, 2025), the termination dates for multiple national health security authorities under the Public Health Service Act, including the Secretary’s public health emergency powers, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the National Advisory Committee on Children and Disasters, the National Advisory Committee on Seniors and Disasters, the National Advisory Committee on Individuals with Disabilities and Disasters, and the National Disaster Medical System.

This section extends the increased inpatient hospital payment adjustment for certain low-volume hospitals through April 11, 2025 (from March 31, 2025) and April 12, 2025 (from April 1, 2025). (As background, the adjustment under Medicare’s inpatient prospective payment system provides an add-on payment to hospitals with fewer than 3,800 total discharges annually to offset their higher per-discharge costs.)

This section extends the Medicare-dependent hospital (MDH) program through April 12, 2025 (from April 1, 2025). The program provides additional Medicare inpatient payments to small rural hospitals with at least 60 percent of inpatient days or discharges attributable to Medicare patients. It also makes conforming date changes to related provisions governing hospital reclassification and payment calculations, adjusting references from March 31, 2025, to April 11, 2025.

This section extends add-on payments for ambulance services under Medicare to April 12, 2025 (from April 1, 2025).

This section extends funding for quality measure endorsement, input, and selection to April 11, 2025 (from March 31, 2025). (As background, section 1890(d) of the Social Security Act provides for a contract with a consensus-based entity to perform these functions for Medicare quality measurement programs.)

This section extends funding for outreach and assistance for low-income Medicare beneficiaries through April 11, 2025 (from March 31, 2025), and increases the amounts as follows: (1) for State Health Insurance Assistance Programs, to $23,125,000 (from $22,500,000); (2) for area agencies on aging, to $23,125,000 (from $22,500,000); (3) for aging and disability resource centers, to $8,708,333 (from $8,500,000); and (4) for coordination of efforts to inform older Americans about benefits available under federal and state programs, to $23,125,000 (from $22,500,000).

This section extends the expiration dates for several Medicare telehealth flexibilities. (1) It removes geographic requirements and expands originating sites, eligible practitioners, services furnished by federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics, audio-only services, and the use of telehealth for hospice recertification face-to-face encounters through April 11, 2025 (from March 31, 2025). (2) It delays the in-person requirements for mental health services furnished through telehealth, including visits at rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers, through April 12, 2025 (from April 1, 2025). (3) It authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to implement these amendments through program instruction.

This section extends the sexual risk avoidance education program under section 510 of the Social Security Act to April 11, 2025 (from March 31, 2025).

This section extends the Personal Responsibility Education Program through April 11, 2025 (from March 31, 2025). The program provides formula grants to states for evidence-based education on abstinence, contraception, and healthy relationships to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

This section increases funding for family-to-family health information centers and extends the authorization period by (1) raising the annual amount to $3,200,000 (from $3,000,000); and (2) extending the period through April 12, 2025 (from April 1, 2025). As background, these centers provide information, training, and peer support to families of children with special health care needs.

This section delays certain reductions in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments to April 12 (from April 1). (As background, DSH payments provide supplemental funding to hospitals serving large numbers of Medicaid and uninsured patients; the referenced provision governs the timing of scheduled reductions in federal DSH allotments to states.)