Brady calls for regulatory relief for hospitals

Congress must move forward with “bold solutions” to protect Medicare for today’s seniors and preserve the program for future generations, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) today told hospital leaders at the AHA Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C. Brady talked about providing “regulatory relief and reform for hospitals,” as well as encouraging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to work with doctors, patients and health care providers as the agency implements key provisions of the new physician payment system required by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. CMS last week issued a proposed rule that would implement provisions of MACRA. Section 101 of MACRA repeals the Medicare sustainable growth rate methodology for updates to the physician fee schedule and requires CMS to establish new physician quality and value-based payment programs that start in 2019.