Close up image of a caretaker helping older woman walk

Provider groups are cheering the elimination an unpopular IRS paperwork requirement created under the Affordable Care Act.

President Obama signed the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act  on Thursday, killing a measure that would have required small businesses, including many long-term care facilities, to file documents with the Internal Revenue Service for any vendor it paid $600 or more in a given year. While the requirement would have generated billions in revenue, many groups from an array of industries lobbied against it as an unfair burden on small businesses. The measure would have taken effect at the end of this year.

“This is a great victory for the more than 10,000 small businesses in long term care that would have been affected by this unnecessary, government red tape,” said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL). “Reducing the burdensome paperwork for these long-term care facilities means they can devote more time and resources to providing high-quality care to our nation’s seniors.”