# Plain Language Summary: Preventing Racism in Medicare Act of 2022

This bill prevents Medicare from counting anti-racism training and planning activities as approved improvement projects that doctors and healthcare providers can participate in. To understand what this means, you need to know that Medicare has a program where healthcare providers can earn bonuses or financial rewards for participating in approved "clinical practice improvement activities"—basically, projects designed to make healthcare better. These can range from adopting new technology to improving patient communication. This bill specifically says that activities focused on developing anti-racism plans cannot be one of those approved improvement activities anymore.

The practical effect is that healthcare organizations participating in Medicare won't be able to use anti-racism initiatives as a way to earn these performance bonuses or credits. If a hospital or doctor's office wants to implement anti-racism training or develop plans to address racial disparities in their care, they can still do it—but they won't get the financial incentives that Medicare normally provides for approved improvement projects. This means organizations would have to fund these efforts through other means or decide whether it's worth doing without the financial reward.

The bill's supporters argue it prevents Medicare from funding what they view as unnecessary programs, while critics contend it could discourage healthcare providers from addressing documented racial disparities in medical care and treatment outcomes. Either way, the bill doesn't ban anti-racism work in healthcare—it just removes one financial incentive that Medicare was offering to encourage it.

Preventing Racism in Medicare Act of 2022

Palmer, Gary J.

Preventing Racism in Medicare Act of 2022 This bill prohibits the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services from including the development of anti-racism plans (i.e., plans to address systemic racism in health care) as a qualifying clinical practice improvement activity under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), as described in a November 2021 rule. (MIPS is an incentive program under Medicare that allows health care professionals to receive payment adjustments based on certain performance measures.)