By a decisive 69-30 margin, senators voted to invoke “cloture” on H.R. 6331--the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008--which contains at least an 18-month delay of competitive bidding along with provisions to reform the program before it moves forward.

The bill also will halt a 10.6 percent pay cut that had been scheduled for Medicare physicians.

Following speeches from Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont.; Orin Hatch, R-Utah; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; Mel Martinez, R-Fla.; Charles Grassley, R-Iowa; Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; and Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the motion for cloture passed.

According to a congressional rule, the successful cloture vote also serves as a vote in favor of the bill itself.

In comments to the Senate president after the vote, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, said she was bothered that there was no ability for amendment to the bill. However, Hutchinson did vote in favor of the measure, she said, because she believed that, were the physician pay cut allowed to stand, the upheaval to seniors and veterans would be “devastating.”

“This was a great victory for the Democrats,” she acknowledged, adding that it “saved a cataclysmic event” from happening.

The vote was held up for some minutes as senators acknowledged with lengthy applause the presence of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., making his first appearance on the Senate floor since he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Kennedy voted in favor of the bill.

The measure delays competitive bidding for 18 to 24 months to be "paid for" by a 9.5 percent reimbursement cut for the products included in round one of bidding. The bill also excludes complex rehab from the program--although the category is still subject to the cut--and contains no further cuts to home oxygen or power wheelchairs.

The bill now goes to President Bush, who has previously threatened to veto the measure because it cuts the Medicare Advantage program in order to offset the physician payments. The president has 10 days, starting now, to decide, "but I think he would act quickly to either veto or sign so providers are not left hanging," said Michael Reinemer, vice president, communications and policy, for the American Association for Homecare.

If he does veto the bill, Reinemer said, the Senate's 69 votes in favor of the legislation would be more than enough to overturn the veto.

On June 24, the House approved the bill by a veto-proof margin of 355-59.

In a congratulatory message sent shortly after the Senate vote, AAHomecare thanked all of the providers, manufacturers, state associations, buying groups and other stakeholders "who have worked so hard on this critical legislation."

“Home care advocates deserve hearty congratulations for achieving a critical congressional milestone toward delay and reform of the competitive bidding program,” the association said.

Before today's vote, officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had declined to comment on exactly how the agency would halt the competitive bidding program, which was implemented in 10 cities July 1.

In addition to the administrative nightmare, a July 8 article in The Hill, a popular Washington newspaper, said CMS could face legal action from some of the 325 suppliers whose round one contracts will now be terminated.