The added language says that if a physician-owned hospital has the most Medicaid admissions of any hospital in its county for three previous cost-reporting periods, it would be able to apply to HHS for permission to grow.
“This type of modification is, at its core, an acknowledgement that something must be done to protect physician owned hospitals,” wrote PHA Executive Director Molly Sandvig in the e-mail.
But she notes that the exception is fairly minor — apparently targeted to a particular hospital — and it “certainly did not go far enough.”
The exact language of the change can be found on page 23 of the so-called “Manager’s Amendment” to HR 3962.
Read the Manager’s Amendment to HR 3962 (pdf).
