Congress Seeks Feedback on Site-Neutral Provision of Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, Representative Fred Upton, and Subcommittee on Health Chairman, Representative Joseph Pitts, have begun to solicit input from members of the healthcare community on certain policy changes, including changes made to certain Medicare hospital reimbursements on a prospective basis. Representatives Upton and Pitts are requesting feedback on policies that have the potential to amend or expand the site-neutral provision included in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. Representatives Upton and Pitts write, Given the wide breadth of suggestions, ideas, concerns and proposals shared with the Committee on this issue, we are inviting all interested members of the health care community to provide formal feedback on policies the Committee should examine in the context of both the enactment of this provision of law, as well as other changes to site-neutral payment policies. Not only did Representative Upton and Pitts ask for feedback and ideas, but they also asked for ideas on how to pay for any suggestions that would lead to an increase in cost for beneficiaries, by stating, If changes are suggested that would represent an increase in cost to beneficiaries or the Medicare program, in the interest of serving patients, beneficiaries, and taxpayers, we would hope you would also suggest additional policies or payment reforms which would ensure changes are at least budget-neutral, or which would ideally further the solvency of the Medicare p...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs