Hospital groups fight plan to cut $4.5B from Medicare

[The Northerner]

Hospital groups are pushing back against a provision in the pending tax extenders bill they say could slash their Medicare payments by $4.5 billion over 10 years.

Hospitals fear the provision could forbid them from billing some care administered within 72 hours of a patient’s admission separately from the bill they would send for a patient’s hospital stay, which is less lucrative.

Groups representing hospitals point out their industry has already accepted payment cuts under the healthcare law signed by President Barack Obama earlier this year.

“Hospitals have already accepted $155 billion in Medicare and Medicaid cuts through healthcare reform,” Christiane Mitchell, director of federal affairs for the Association of American Medical Colleges, wrote in an e-mail requesting that members contact their members of Congress.

Pending Medicare rules, she adds, suggest additional cuts are coming that would hit teaching hospitals particularly hard.

“We cannot support an additional $4.5 billion in Medicare hospital payment cuts,” Mitchell writes in the e-mail, which was obtained by The Hill. “Please share any feedback you might receive; your input will greatly help in our efforts to block the cuts.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/99143-hospital-groups-fight-plan-to-cut-45b-from-medicare