Advocacy & Public Policy
Resources from the American Hospital Association (AHA) on advocacy and public policy health care issues.
The AHA today urged UnitedHealthcare to forgo a new coverage policy for laboratory tests that the association believes is burdensome and negatively impacts patients’ access to care.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Aug. 3 issued a proposed rule that would update physician fee schedule (PFS) payments for calendar year (CY) 2021. The rule also included several proposals to implement year five of the quality payment program (QPP) created by the Medicare…
The AHA urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to allow hospitals receiving periodic interim payments to carry out their accelerated payment repayment at cost settlement, as was initially communicated by the agency.
The White House Aug. 3 issued an executive order on “improving rural health and telehealth access.” The order includes directives to: launch a new payment model for rural health care; develop and implement a strategy to improve rural health care infrastructure; create a report describing policy…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) July 31 published a final rule for the inpatient psychiatric facility (IPF) prospective payment system (PPS) for fiscal year (FY) 2021. The rule will be published in the Federal Register Aug. 4.
The AHA urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services not to resume medical review activities, including Recovery Audit Contractor-initiated audits, which CMS suspended on March 30 due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Six national organizations representing hospitals, including the AHA, urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to delay the start of repayments associated with the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Programs. The first hospitals and health systems to receive accelerated payments…
The AHA and the Association of American Medical Colleges announced they will seek a rehearing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in their lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services challenging the department’s authority to reduce payments for hospital…
The Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care launched a national television ad urging Congress to pass emergency funding to help provide immediate financial relief to hospitals and health systems.
Congress should allocate as part of the next COVID-19 relief package at least an additional $100 billion to the emergency relief fund to provide direct funding to front line health care personnel and providers, the AHA, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association wrote to Senate…