AHA Support of Senate Bill Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act of 2024

May 23, 2024

Dear Senators Carper and Scott:

On behalf of our nearly 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, our clinician partners — including more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers — and the 43,000 health care leaders who belong to our professional membership groups, the American Hospital Association (AHA) is pleased to support the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act of 2024 (S.4350) to extend the acute care hospital-at-home (H@H) program for five years.

H@H programs provide a safe and innovative way to care for patients in the comfort of their homes. This kind of care is well suited for medium-acuity patients who need hospital-level care but are considered stable enough to be safely monitored and treated by their doctor and a team of medical professionals while in the comfort of their own home.

We are encouraged to see that your bipartisan bill includes a five-year extension of the H@H program. Standing up a H@H program requires logistical and technical work, with an investment of time, staff and money. In addition to being approved for the federal waiver, some providers must navigate additional regulatory requirements at the state level. For some, this whole process could take a year or more to complete before that first patient is seen at home. A longer extension of the H@H program would provide much-needed stability for existing programs to continue providing care to their patients, and it would give time for others to start programs allowing more patients to benefit from this innovative program.

We thank you for your leadership in introducing the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act of 2024.

Sincerely,
/s/
Lisa Kidder Hrobsky
Senior Vice President,
Advocacy and Political Affairs