AHA urges Congress to reject further site-neutral payment policies

In a letter Friday to Republican leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its health subcommittee, the AHA detailed its concern with reduced payment for Medicare services furnished in new off-campus hospital outpatient departments and urged Congress to reject any further site-neutral payment policies. “The AHA and the hospital field are extremely concerned about site-neutral payment proposals that would reimburse hospitals at the payment rates of facilities with lesser clinical capabilities,” wrote AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels, responding to a request for feedback on Section 603 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 and other site-neutral payment proposals. “Americans rely heavily on hospitals to provide care to all patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to serve as a safety-net provider for vulnerable populations, and to respond to every conceivable type of natural and man-made disaster. These roles are not explicitly funded; instead they are built into a hospital’s overall cost structure, and in part, supported by revenues received from providing direct patient care across various settings.” The AHA strongly encourages hospitals to submit their own comments to the committee, which are due Friday.