AHA yesterday urged the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to reconsider certain proposed changes to Medicare payment for indirect medical education and separately payable outpatient drugs, which the commission could vote on later this week. 
 
The association expressed concern the commission was considering a proposal that would redistribute IME payments to teaching hospitals during a global pandemic, and called for “a more granular assessment of the hospital-level impacts” to fully understand what any modifications to the IME program would mean for teaching hospitals and the communities they serve.
 
“Indeed, further reducing Medicare underpayments would exacerbate the financial challenges hospitals are already facing, and limit hospitals’ ability to provide state-of-the-art clinical care and train the next generation of practitioners, even further exacerbating clinician burnout,” AHA said.
 
While AHA supports incentivizing drug makers to produce clinically superior drugs for payment on a pass-through basis, “we are very concerned that the proposed changes for separately payable drugs could harm 340B hospitals and the ability of their patients to access these drugs,” AHA said. “…Further, we are concerned about the lack of evidentiary and data analysis underlying the recommendation.”
 

Related News Articles

Headline
The federal government shutdown will continue as the Senate Oct. 3 failed to adopt a government funding deal. The latest attempt to pass the House-passed…
Headline
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Sept. 30 issued a memo, through the Health Plan Management system, finalizing the Medicare Advantage…
Headline
The federal government shut down Oct. 1 following a failed Senate vote on the House-passed continuing resolution to fund the government by midnight Sept. 30.…
Headline
The AHA Sept. 29 sent recommendations to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to help ensure…
Headline
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Sept. 26 that average premiums for Medicare Advantage and Part D would decline slightly in 2026.…
Headline
The AHA expressed support Sept. 22 to House and Senate sponsors of the Medicare Advantage Prompt Pay Act (H.R. 5454/S. 2879), legislation that would apply a…