House holds hearing on health care competition, transparency

In a statement submitted to the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions for a hearing today on competition and transparency in health care, AHA said mergers and acquisitions are important tools that some hospitals use to lower costs and increase health care quality and access for patients, noting that site-neutral payment cuts have contributed to Medicare’s chronic failure to cover the cost of caring for its beneficiaries.
 
“The AHA strongly opposes additional site-neutral payment policies and appreciates the opportunity to clarify that the notion that hospitals engage in ‘dishonest billing’ practices to optimize higher reimbursement rates is inaccurate and intentionally misleading. Hospitals cannot lawfully obfuscate the location of care delivery on their bills. Hospitals and other providers bill according to federal regulations, which require them to bill all payers — Medicare, Medicaid and private payers — using codes that indicate the location of where the service is provided. Additionally, current Medicare regulations require that beneficiaries who are treated in an off-campus hospital outpatient department (HOPD) receive a notification of their expected financial obligations and be informed that they will receive bills from both the doctor and hospital. This is not ‘dishonest billing’ — it is simply following current federal regulations.”