Blake Moore

Essential Caregivers Act of 2025

This bill prohibits certain health care facilities from limiting the access of essential caregivers to residents of those facilities, including during designated emergency periods.

Specifically, the bill generally prohibits Medicare skilled nursing facilities, Medicaid nursing facilities, Medicaid intermediate care facilities, and associated inpatient rehabilitation facilities from restricting the access of essential caregivers to residents of the facilities, including during emergency periods in which visitation rights are otherwise restricted. During emergency periods, facilities may restrict access for an initial period of up to seven days and for one additional maximum seven-day period (if the additional period is approved by the state health department). Facilities may restrict access for a total of 7 days (or 14 days with the approval of the state health department) during an emergency period.

Essential caregivers must agree to comply with any safety protocols set by the facility, which may be no more stringent for caregivers compared to those for staff. Caregivers who fail to comply with these requirements may be denied access, subject to an appeals process.

Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust in Congress Act or the TRUST in Congress Act

This bill requires a Member of Congress, as well as any spouse or dependent child of a Member, to place specified investments into a qualified blind trust (i.e., an arrangement in which certain financial holdings are placed in someone else's control to avoid a possible conflict of interest) until 180 days after the end of their tenure as a Member of Congress.

Preventing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in TANF Act

This bill limits how and when states may use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds and establishes an eligibility threshold for all TANF-funded assistance and services.

Currently, each state sets its own eligibility threshold for TANF-funded cash assistance. The bill establishes an upper limit on eligibility applicable to all assistance and services (including non-cash benefits) funded by TANF family assistance grants. Under this provision, only families with income under 200% of the federal poverty guidelines may receive TANF-funded assistance and services.

Further, the bill generally requires states to obligate TANF funds by the end of the fiscal year after they are paid and to spend funds by the end of the second fiscal year after they are paid. However, states may reserve a specified portion of their TANF funds for future use. (There is currently no requirement to use TANF funds within a specified period.)

The bill also explicitly requires states to use federal TANF funds to supplement, not replace, state and local funding for TANF-supported programs. (Current law requires states to spend a specified minimum amount on TANF-eligible activities and populations, known as the maintenance of effort requirement.)

States must also take specified steps to track and report on improper payments of federal funds (e.g., overpayments, underpayments, payments to ineligible recipients). Within one year of enactment, HHS must submit to Congress a plan to reduce or eliminate improper payments made by states under the TANF program within 10 years.

Provider Reimbursement Stability Act of 2026

This bill allows for larger annual adjustments to the Medicare physician fee schedule. It also requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to make certain corrections to compensate for expenditures under the fee schedule that exceed a certain amount in a given year, and it limits how much certain adjustment factors may vary each year.

Current law prohibits annual adjustments to the Medicare physician fee schedule that would result in a more than $20 million difference between the adjusted amount and the non-adjusted amount of total expenditures. The bill increases this threshold to $54.3 million beginning in 2027, with adjustments for inflation every five years beginning in 2032.

Additionally, for certain services, the bill requires the CMS to determine the difference between expenditures based on estimated utilization of the service and expenditures based on actual utilization. If this difference exceeds a certain percentage of total expenditures under the fee schedule, the CMS must reconcile this difference by adjusting payments for the following year. This requirement applies to services for which payment was bundled with another service and there was a separate or add-on payment during the previous year.

Finally, the CMS must update the prices and rates of each category of direct costs that affect payments (e.g., prices of equipment) at least every five years, with updates made to each category in the same year. The bill also prohibits the CMS from varying a certain adjustment factor by more than 2.5% each year.

Aviation Medication Transparency Act of 2025

This bill directs the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to compile, publish, and annually update a list of medications that may be safely prescribed to pilots and air traffic controllers for the purposes of issuing a medical certification. The list must be publicly available on the FAA website and distributed to those seeking a license and medical certification.

Currently, the FAA does not have a list of approved medications. However, the FAA does have lists for Aviation Medical Examiners of Do Not Issue medications and Do Not Fly medications.

Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act

This bill expedites payment of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits and eligibility for Medicare coverage for those with metastatic breast cancer (i.e., breast cancer that has spread to other sites in the body).

Specifically, the bill eliminates the 5-month waiting period for SSDI benefits and the subsequent 24-month waiting period for Medicare coverage for individuals with metastatic breast cancer. Under current law, individuals generally must wait 5 months after the onset of disability to begin receiving SSDI benefits and an additional 24 months to become eligible for Medicare.

Patient Matching And Transparency in Certified Health IT Act of 2025 or the MATCH IT Act of 2025

This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a definition and standards for patient matching (i.e., the process of accurately matching patients with their medical records, including when records are exchanged between health care providers). It also requires the development of (1) a minimum data set for technology standards to increase patient matching, and (2) incentives for patient matching under Medicare.

Specifically, the bill requires HHS to develop a uniform definition and standards for patient matching to track patient match rates and document improvement over time. The definition and standards must account for certain situations, including duplicate records and multiple matches.

The bill also requires the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to adopt a minimum data set to help health care providers or health information systems achieve a patient match rate of 99.9%. The minimum data set and related standards must be incorporated into the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability and the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program for health information technology.

Additionally, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must establish a voluntary bonus measure within the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program to allow health care providers who have a patient match rate over a certain percentage to receive a payment adjustment. The ONC and CMS must develop a voluntary reporting program for providers to anonymously submit patient matching data to HHS.

Hearing Device Coverage Clarification Act

This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to specify that fully implanted active middle ear hearing devices are prosthetics (not hearing aids) and are covered under Medicare.