While the country may seem completely divided, some policymakers are working across the aisle to solve the urgent problems our country is facing. Last week, for instance, Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) issued a legislative framework on site-neutral reform.
Currently, hospitals can charge Medicare excessively high prices for services that can safely be offered in a doctor’s office or other smaller facility. This, combined with the trend of hospital networks purchasing local providers and consolidating the options for patients to seek care, has driven up health care costs.
“Our bipartisan site-neutral payment framework demonstrates how we can significantly lower health care costs for seniors on Medicare – which in turn will save taxpayers billions of dollars,” Senator Hassan says.
AV supports this site neutral reform effort. “Today, Medicare beneficiaries pay up to four times more for routine health services provided at a hospital-owned outpatient facility compared to the same service at an independent physician’s office,” Mark Miller, AV’s executive vice president of health care, explains. “This payment distortion incentivizes large hospital systems to buy up physician practices, increasing consolidation and driving up prices.”
Read our statement on the Cassidy and Hassan Bipartisan Site-Neutral Payment Reform Framework>
|
