With less than two months before America selects its next president, Congress has returned to Washington, D.C., to consider a federal funding plan, with action required before Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown. Given it is an election year, a shutdown is unlikely, and Congress will need to take temporary actions to keep programs operating.
In addition to the broader government funding questions, lawmakers have said they would like to pass several health care measures, including bills that would affect pharmacy benefit managers, price transparency, prior authorization, privacy, hospital pay, and more.
CHA, along with our partners at the American Hospital Association, is focused on several measures that could impact hospitals:
- Preventing planned cuts to Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments: Congress must take action to delay or cancel the implementation of Medicaid DSH cuts, which would affect more than 150 hospitals in California. Without action, cuts to this financial lifeline for hospitals that care for the most vulnerable — children, impoverished, disabled, and elderly — are scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2025, and would reduce payments to California hospitals by as much as $1.3 billion.
- Rejecting site-neutral payment cuts: Proposed legislation that would reduce payments to hospitals for certain procedures provided in hospital outpatient departments suggests that the care provided is the same, regardless of setting, and therefore the price should be the same.
- Holding commercial health plans accountable: Passage of the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act would streamline the prior authorization process in the Medicare Advantage program.
- Other issues include hospital-at-home, 340B discount drug program, violence against health care workers, and more.
Over the summer, anticipating a busy fall for Congress, CHA asked California hospital leaders to engage with their federal representatives on these and other issues. Next week, we will reissue that call to action as members of Congress begin to debate these proposals.
As always, our advocacy cannot be successful without your voices. The more policymakers hear from those on the front lines about an issue, the better informed they will be as they cast critical votes that will affect your ability to care for patients and communities.
Thank you, in advance, for stepping up, time and again, to make sure hospitals are heard.
