Standing Up for Patients and Protecting Access to Care

We must stabilize hospitals’ finances to ensure access to patient care. We must strengthen the health care workforce. And, we must secure a future where hospitals and health systems can continue serving their communities.

These were the main advocacy messages we shared with the more than 1,000 hospital and health systems leaders who attended this week’s AHA Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C. (You can watch a highlights video here and view coverage from the meeting here.

Hospital leaders delivered these messages directly to their lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, and it couldn’t have come at a more important time. Congress held multiple hearings on critical issues affecting the field and discussed a number of proposals that would further strain hospital resources and jeopardize patient access to care.

Specifically, we testified at a Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight hearing on tax-exempt hospitals and the community benefit standard on the benefits hospitals and health systems provide to their communities. Earlier that day, we also testified at the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing discussing a number of legislative proposals on topics, including “so-called site-neutral” payment policies, price transparency, the 340B Drug Pricing Program, physician-owned hospitals and Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital reductions, among other issues. At this hearing, we explained to lawmakers the many significant challenges hospitals and health systems are facing right now and that any additional Medicare reductions would further jeopardize access to care.

We also voiced our strong opposition to site-neutral payment cuts, which could force hundreds of outpatient clinics to close or cut back on critical services, resulting in reduced patient access and job losses, especially in rural and other underserved communities.

We made the case that hospital outpatient departments — such as hospital-owned clinics that provide complex cancer, pediatric and mental health services — should not be paid the same Medicare rate as a stand-alone physician office. These outpatient departments treat more patients from medically underserved populations who tend to be sicker and more complex to care for than Medicare patients treated in independent physician offices and ambulatory surgical centers. They also are held to more rigorous licensing, accreditation and regulatory requirements.

We’re bolstering our grassroots advocacy efforts with advertising targeted to lawmakers and their staff on Capitol Hill. The Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care, of which AHA is a founding member, launched a new TV and digital ad campaign urging Congress to reject proposals that would reduce access to care and services for Medicare patients.

The ad highlights a key fact that all Americans need to understand: Medicare pays hospitals just 84% of the cost of caring for seniors on Medicare. Any reductions to this essential program will make it harder for seniors to get the health care they need and deserve.

You can view our statement submitted for the legislative hearing for more details on AHA’s position on key issues discussed at the hearing. We’ll be having follow-up conversations with lawmakers on the substance of the legislative proposals and will continue our efforts to educate policymakers and the public on these important topics.

And we need your help. You are the most effective advocate with your representatives and senators. Please use our advocacy resources to help you in conversations with your lawmakers and urge them to reject any reductions to Medicare funding that would reduce patients’ access to care.

When our field speaks with a strong, united and collective voice, lawmakers hear us. And we get results. Let’s make that happen again to ensure our hospitals are strong and our communities healthy.