Last November Congress passed a law that established a new, site-neutral Medicare payment policy for newly acquired, provider-based, off-campus outpatient departments.

In response to protests about the new law, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee invited the provider community to share its views on the law. In a letter to the committee, the National Association of Urban Hospitals identified four specific circumstances under which private safety-net hospitals believe outpatient payments should not be made on a site-neutral basis:

  • NAUH Logowhen a new outpatient project was under way at the time of the bill’s passage;
  • when an outpatient project would serve a formally designated Medically Underserved Area (MUA) or Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA);
  • when the outpatient project is undertaken by a multi-campus hospital or a project of a hospital merger; or
  • when the outpatient project is an expansion or relocation of an existing outpatient facility.

See NAUH’s letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee here.