AHA urges MedPAC not to pursue additional site-neutral policies

Dec 06, 2016 - 05:00 PM

The AHA yesterday asked the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to consider certain issues before making draft recommendations related to provider consolidation and stand-alone emergency departments. MedPAC last month discussed, in the context of vertical integration, whether it should advance new and/or past recommendations on site-neutral payment. “The AHA strongly opposes these site-neutral options,” AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels said in a letter to the commission. “We believe it is premature and potentially disruptive to providers, patients and communities to recommend or implement additional site-neutral policies while providers are currently in the midst of implementing the site-neutral policies contained in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.” AHA also “strongly opposes revocation of the ED exemption in BiBA,” a policy option discussed by MedPAC last month in relation to hospital-based off-campus emergency departments and independent freestanding emergency centers. Among other comments, AHA expressed concern that “considering provider-based OCEDs in the same category as IFECs is misleading and inappropriate given the important differences between the two."

Related News Articles

Headline
FDA approves drug imports, CMS certain blanket waivers after hurricanes
Baxter Healthcare Corp., in coordination with the Food and Drug Administration, has agreed to temporarily import certain intravenous drug products, such…
Headline
Hargan named acting HHS secretary
President Trump yesterday named Eric Hargan as Acting Secretary of Health and Human Services. Confirmed as HHS deputy secretary last week, Hargan previously…
Headline
AHA comments on CMS proposal to cancel bundling programs
Hospitals generally support the proposed cancellation of the cardiac and Surgical Hip and Femur Fracture Treatment bundling program and Comprehensive Care for…
Headline
Groups urge CMS to suspend draft laboratory payment rates under PAMA
Twenty-three organizations, including the AHA, Friday urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to suspend implementation of new draft Medicare…
Headline
CMS determines first qualifying APM participants for 2018
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has identified the first clinicians eligible to participate in 2018 advanced alternative payment models, based…
Headline
Hargan sworn in as HHS deputy secretary
The U.S. Senate this week voted 57-38 to confirm as Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan, an attorney and shareholder in the health care…