Congress Must Protect Rural Hospitals When Considering Site Neutral Payment Policy Changes
As Congress examines Medicare outpatient payments across different sites of service, the unique circumstances of rural hospitals, particularly Sole Community Hospitals and Medicare Dependent Hospitals, must be considered and protected.
Updating the Hospital Specific Payment Base Year for Medicare-Dependent and Sole Community Hospitals
When Congress established the Medicare-dependent Small Rural Hospital and Sole Community Hospital programs, it did so to ensure that these critical safety net providers would remain viable under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS)…
Congress Should Fulfill the Intent of the 340B Program and Pass the Closing Loopholes for Orphan Drugs Act
Lawmakers should reintroduce the Closing Loopholes for Orphan Drugs Act, to ensure that RRCs and SCHs (as well as CAHs and cancer hospitals) benefit from the 340B Program to the extent that Congress intended, allowing these facilities to continue to provide rural communities with local access to important health care services.