Hospital and health system leaders gathered on Capitol Hill yesterday to urge lawmakers not to enact further cuts to hospital funding as part of the American Hospital Association Advocacy Day, according to an AHA News report.
Attendees asked congressional representatives to reject Medicare and Medicaid payment reductions for hospitals to protect patients' access to care, according to the report. They also asked lawmakers to fight cuts to disproportionate share hospital payments, which go to organizations that provide high levels of charity care and treat high volumes of Medicaid patients. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments will be reduced by $64 billion over the next six years.
Additionally, hospital leaders asked Congress to provide relief from Medicare recovery auditors, better known as RACs, and the new two-midnight admission policy, a new regulation which specifies inpatient admissions are considered reasonable and necessary for Medicare beneficiaries who require more than a one-day stay in a hospital or who need treatment specified as inpatient only.
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