A provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act, now law, could increase CMPs levied under the Occupational Safety and Health Act and OBRA ’87’s Nursing Home Reform Act. Section 701 of the budget measure allows these CMPs to increase according to changes to the Consumer Price Index between 1990 and 2015, with increases to be capped at 150%. This provision was included in the budget measure without the normal hearing and committee voting procedures that could have made legislators aware of the provision’s potential impact on long-term services and supports providers. LeadingAge has contacted the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over the issue to point out that CMPs imposed by OSHA and CMS already exceed those levied by other federal agencies. We explained that for violations of the Nursing Home Reform Act, CMPs are only one of a range of remedies intended not to punish but instead to achieve sustained compliance with the Act’s requirements. Unlike other industries subject to federal regulation, NHs’ largest source of revenue comes from public programs with fixed payment rates that will not accommodate inflated CMP payments. Increases in CMPs to the extent allowed under the Bipartisan Budget Act could siphon off resources that nursing homes need in order to improve care. We have urged legislators to reconsider this provision and we will look for opportunities to correct it in future legislation <http://www.leadingage.org/uploadedFiles/Content/Members/Provider_Types/Legal/Survey_and_Certification/CMPs_budget_deal.pdf>