Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)

Nursing home providers Wednesday commended the House for passing a bill that would eliminate the one-year delay to the RUG-IV case-mix classification system.

“While highly complex, the necessary correction to this regulatory matter will have a far-reaching impact and offers a more complete picture of the care needs of long term and post-acute care patients,” Bruce Yarwood, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association, said in a statement.

The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care also praised the House’s action on the bill. The Senate is expected to pass the bill. Under the bill, RUG-IV would take effect Oct. 1, not Oct. 1, 2011, as was stated in the healthcare reform legislation.

The bill, the Veterans’, Seniors’ and Children’s Health Technical Corrections Act of 2010 (H.R. 5712), would make other changes to the healthcare reform bill, such as clarifying the distribution of unused residency slots under the Medicare Graduate Medical Education program. House Ways and Means Chairman Sander Levin (D-MI) and Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) introduced it.