AHA, Others Urge Congress to Extend the Moratorium on Sequester Cuts to Medicare Providers

March 11, 2021

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi                     The Honorable Chuck Schumer
Speaker                                                      Majority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives                  U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20515                              Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Kevin McCarthy                The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Republican Leader                                     Republican Leader
U.S. House of Representatives                  U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20515                              Washington, DC 20510

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leaders Schumer, McConnell, and McCarthy:

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in historic challenges for America’s front line health care providers and the patients and communities they serve. This has placed unprecedented stress on the entire health care system.

Our providers are working tirelessly to deliver the best care for patients, as well as to administer vaccinations, and we urge you to pass legislation to assist them by extending the moratorium on sequester cuts to Medicare providers. This funding would allow for continued support of providers' COVID-19-related additional expenses due to activities such as purchasing supplies and equipment, standing up emergency testing centers and the construction and retrofitting of facilities. As you know, the Medicare sequester relief is scheduled to end March 31, and extending the relief will provide crucial support to health care providers.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has persisted in parts of the country, infecting more than 29 million people and resulting in more than 525,000 deaths, America’s health care providers continue to face historic challenges. Physicians, nurses, hospitals and health systems, long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, and hospices have incurred significant expenses to treat the sick. At the same time, they are experiencing historic financial losses due to the decrease in utilization of inpatient and outpatient services. A cut to providers at this time would be devastating as we continue to battle COVID-19.

Through the relief from sequester cuts, Congress has provided critical relief to health care providers during the public health emergency. However, America’s health care providers continue to face overwhelming financial challenges and pressures associated with higher overhead costs due to personal protective equipment and other safeguards, lost revenue due to delayed non-emergent procedures, bonus pay to staff, and many other challenges.

We are grateful that Congress has provided much-needed assistance to health care providers. This relief helped to improve what was, and continues to be, the relatively dire financial outlook for many of our members. Without future relief to providers, patients’ access to care could be threatened. As such, we respectfully ask that Congress extend the moratorium on the Medicare sequester cuts so that we can continue to care for patients, families and communities.

We thank you for your ongoing leadership as we battle COVID-19 together.

Sincerely,

American Hospital Association
American Health Care Association
National Association for Home Care & Hospice
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
Association for Clinical Oncology