December 10, 2024
On Nov. 1, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) released a legislative framework on site- neutral Medicare payment reform. The senators’ proposal includes two policy options that would cut payments to hospital outpatient departments by expanding the application of site-neutral payment policy to all hospital-owned sites of care away from the hospital’s main campus and eliminating the grandfathering exception.
The second option would impose lower non-hospital rates for services that are most commonly performed in either a physician or ambulatory setting. “Patients should not be forced to pay higher bills just because their regular doctor’s office was purchased by a hospital,” Hassan said. “There is bipartisan agreement that by pursuing site-neutral payment in Medicare, we can lower costs and ensure that more people can get the health care that they need.”
The senators note they would reinvest savings from option two into rural and “high needs” hospitals using value-based reimbursements and creating an incentive for rural hospitals to maintain essential services like maternity care and emergency psychiatric services. The proposal was released as a policy paper rather than legislative text, and faces long odds as currently designed, given the disconnect between House and Senate Republicans on site- neutral payments.
You may also like
