The American Hospital Association (AHA) and other national hospital groups have opposed a legislative provision that would reduce payments for drug administration services furnished in off-campus provider-based departments. The groups argue that the proposal would harm hospitals and patients. The AHA also released a fact sheet highlighting three site-neutral proposals being considered by the House Energy and Commerce Committee and estimating that the proposals would reduce Medicare reimbursement to hospitals and health systems by $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion annually.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) and other national hospital groups have opposed a legislative provision (H.R. 3561) that would reduce payments for drug administration services furnished in off-campus provider-based departments. The groups argue that the proposal would harm hospitals and patients.
In a letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders, the AHA and other groups said that site-neutral policies fail to account for the fundamental differences between hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) and other ambulatory care sites. HOPDs treat patients who are sicker and have more chronic conditions than those treated in physician offices or ambulatory surgical centers. As a result, HOPDs require more complex care and incur higher costs.
The letter also noted that site-neutral policies would have a disproportionate impact on safety-net hospitals, which serve a large number of uninsured and underinsured patients. Safety-net hospitals would be forced to raise prices or reduce services if they were unable to recoup the costs of providing care to these patients.
The AHA and other groups urged the committee to reject the site-neutral proposal. They said that the proposal would harm hospitals and patients and would do nothing to improve the quality of care.
Fact sheet on site-neutral proposals
The AHA also released a fact sheet highlighting three site-neutral proposals being considered by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The fact sheet estimates that the proposals would reduce Medicare reimbursement to hospitals and health systems by $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion annually.
The fact sheet also notes that the proposals contain some overlap. For example, all three proposals would reduce payments for drug administration services furnished in off-campus provider-based departments. However, the proposals differ in how they would treat other services, such as outpatient surgery and diagnostic imaging.
The AHA recommended that the committee carefully consider the consequences of the site-neutral alternatives before reaching a decision. The association argued that the measures should not be approved without a thorough review since they would have a substantial impact on hospitals and patients.
