In a letter to the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and its Health Committee, the National Association of Urban Hospitals has again called on Congress to pass legislation requiring Medicare to add risk adjustment to its hospital readmissions reduction program.

The letter, spurred by a new CMS publication, Guide to Preventing Readmissions among Racially and Ethnically Diverse Medicare Beneficiaries, that in NAUH’s estimation incorrectly identifies why some hospitals have greater readmissions problems than others, cites the growing body of evidence showing that urban safety-net hospitals and others like them are treated unfairly by the readmissions reduction program.

Last year NAUH endorsed H.R. 1343, the Establishing Beneficiary Equity in the Hospital Readmission Program Act, that would require Medicare to add risk adjustment to the readmissions reduction program.

Go here to see NAUH’s letter.