K Street in Brief

Nursing a cut 

Congress left the nursing home industry in the cold on a major priority when it passed this year’s Medicare bill without protecting $4 billion the facilities stand to lose.

The sector’s lobbying groups, though, are holding out hope that pressure from a gang of senators might dissuade the Bush administration from implementing a regulation this week that nursing homes say will cost them $770 million next year and an estimated $4 billion over five years.

{mosads}In an interesting approach during an era of Democratic control of Congress, the American Healthcare Association (AHCA), the industry’s main trade group, and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, a smaller group representing mostly publicly traded chains, are highlighting Republican opposition to the administration’s position.

“The scope and breadth of this congressional opposition — particularly among key members of the president’s own party — is striking,” alliance President Alan Rosenbloom said in a statement.

AHCA President and CEO Bruce Yarwood highlighted the support of Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and other lawmakers who are facing difficult reelection races this year for the industry’s position. That is a sign, Yarwood said, that GOP politicians are worried about public reaction to cuts in nursing home payments that could diminish access to care in those facilities.

Blocking those cuts in their Medicare payments has been a huge priority for nursing homes. The Medicare bill was filled with goodies for numerous other medical providers, from physicians to physical therapists, but it did not address the nursing home payment question.

According to the nursing home groups, 47 senators have written President Bush calling for him to halt the regulation, which was published on July 30, 2007. Other Republican senators who are in competitive reelection races support the nursing homes, including Norm Coleman (Minn.) and John Sununu (N.H.).

When it issued the regulation, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services characterized the part of the rule the industry opposes as the correction of a “forecast error” in the projections of nursing home costs the agency uses to set payment rates.

Jeffrey Young
 

Extending an extender 

Top officials with the semiconductor industry are visiting key members on the Hill this week in an effort to win support for another one-year extension of the research and development tax credit.

But what the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) really wants is a longer extension of the tax credit.

Wim Roelandts, the group’s chairman, said the one-year credit isn’t that much help to businesses, particularly during an economic slowdown.

“If I had it guaranteed for five years, I probably would start more programs,” said Roelandts, chairman, president and CEO of Xilinx, a semiconductor company based in San Jose, Calif.

When the economy is slow, Roelandts said, it is even tougher to justify launching new research programs.

Still, something is apparently better than nothing. And SIA is actively supporting the tax extenders bill that includes the single-year extension.

Roelandts and SIA President George Scalise are in town this week to press members of Congress to move forward on a number of other issues as well. All of the issues would make the U.S. semiconductor industry more competitive, they argue.

Other priorities include increased federal support for research at universities and support for legislation that would essentially allow more people to remain in the U.S. under green cards.

Ian Swanson