AHA urges president to protect access to care in FY 2016 budget request

AHA today urged President Obama to protect access to health care services for seniors and the disabled by not including further hospital payment reductions under Medicare in his fiscal year 2016 Federal Budget proposal. “America’s hospitals provide access to the most sophisticated and advanced health care in the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,“ wrote AHA President and CEO Rich Umbdenstock. “Unfortunately, additional cuts to hospitals, such as those included in the $354 billion reductions proposed for Medicare providers in last year’s Federal Budget, would seriously challenge hospitals’ ability to keep the promise of maintaining access to quality health care services. Additional Medicare cuts would jeopardize our ability to purchase new technologies, upgrade facilities and continue to invest in information systems and other activities necessary to transform the delivery system to make it more effective and efficient. Furthermore, such reductions will also inevitably result in job loss, because nearly half of a hospital’s budget is devoted to labor costs.”