Congress urged to maintain limits on physician-owned hospitals

National hospital groups today urged Congress to oppose H.R. 2513, legislation that would loosen current restrictions on the growth of physician-owned hospitals. “By steering their most profitable cases to facilities they own, physician-owners inflate health care costs and drain essential resources from community hospitals, which depend on a balance of services and patients to provide indispensable treatment, such as behavioral health and trauma care,” the organizations wrote. “Since the bipartisan Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, Congress has supported ending these egregious and costly arrangements. However, H.R. 2513 would allow countless new arrangements of this type to proliferate. This would be a giant step backwards for patients, taxpayers, employers and community hospitals. For these reasons, we urge you to oppose H.R. 2513.” In addition to AHA, signers of the letter include America’s Essential Hospitals, the Association of American Medical Colleges, Catholic Health Association of the United States, Children’s Hospital Association, Federation of American Hospitals, Premier healthcare alliance, and VHA Inc.