AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION for AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION

Health Issues HCR

Support S 258 and HR 169, Critical Access Hospital Relief Act, a bill that would remove the 96-hour physician certification requirement as a condition of payment for critical access hospitals (CAHs); Support HR 293, a bill to exempt certain journals and text books used in continuing medical education (CME) from manufacturer transparency reporting requirements; Participated in the Hearing, Examining the 340B Drug Pricing Program and submitted testimony about the 340B program, a federal drug discount program to Subcommittee members who will review the functionality of the program to ensure it is meeting its intended goals; HR 6, 21st Century Cures, it is a bill that accelerates the discovery and development of cures, and also includes provisions addressing interoperability of health IT and would provide additional money to NIH and the FDA; Two midnight discussion with several members of Congress; Support, Advancing Telehealth Opportunities in Medicare Telehealth, submitted a letter outlining the benefits of telehealth and showcases successful hospital and health system efforts. It also outlines barriers to greater use of telehealth; Submitted letter pertaining to interoperabilty within the hospital communities; Support S. 599, Improving Access to Emergency Psychiatric Care Act of 2015, a bill that is an important step toward easing the shortage of psychiatric beds in communities across the nation and revise the length of the emergency psychiatric demonstration project that is currently limited to three years; Comments on H.R.1458, BACPAC Act of 2015, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide bundled payments for post-acute care services under parts A and B of Medicare, and submitted a statement for a hearing on HR 1458 (re bundled payments for post-acute and other post-hospital services); Discussed Equity of Care Issues with members of congress; Advocate for funding by working with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and Hospital Preparedness Program staff on ensuring adequate Ebola hospital funding; Working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on ongoing Ebola-related issues and guidance; Working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that hospitals continue to be able to use blood glucose monitoring systems (BGMS) on hospitalized patients; Discussion of draft guidance on drug compounding and repackaging; Working with ASPR and CDC staff to define the impact of the Hospital Preparedness Program and Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program on improving health care system preparedness; Support efforts to advocate on Ebola within a discussion with FDA regarding impact on access to chest tubes regarding the Atrium Medical Corp and Maquet consent decree ; Advocate for regulatory approach in a discussion with White House staff regarding new initiative promoting bystander involvement in stopping hemorrhage in injured civilians; Attended a roundtable discussion on Opioid-related dependence, overdose, and death at HHS; Advocate for changes to The Care Planning Act, a bill that would provide for advanced illness care coordination services for Medicare beneficiaries; Support HR 2878 and S 1461,a bill to provide for the extension of the enforcement instruction on supervision requirements for outpatient therapeutic services in critical access and small rural hospitals through 2015; Support S.799/HR 1462, Protecting Our Infants Act of 2015, a bill to combat the rise of prenatal opioid abuse and neonatal abstinence syndrome;Discussed S. 1349, a bill that amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require a hospital or critical access hospital with an agreement with the Secretary of Health and Human Services to give each individual who receives observation services as an outpatient for more than 24 hours an adequate oral and written notification within 36 hours after beginning; Submitted a statement to the Senate Commerce Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet Subcommittee hearing on Advancing Telehealth through Connectivity. The statement supports expansions to Medicare reimbursement for telehealth along with changes to the Health Care Connect Fund at the Federal Communications Commission; Support the H.R. 2745, Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules (SMARTER Act), a bill to provide that the Federal Trade Commission shall exercise authority with respect to mergers only under the Clayton Act and only in the same procedural manner as the Attorney General exercises such authority; Comments on S.1648, Rural Emergency Acute Care Hospital Act of 2015, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sustainable future for rural healthcare. Support HR 1784, Making the Education of Nurses Dependable for Schools Act (MEND Act), a bill to enable hospital-based nursing programs that are affiliated with a hospital to maintain payments under the Medicare program to hospitals for the costs of such programs; Submitted comments to HHS to refrain from finalizing a stage 3 meaningful use rule; Advocate for Appropriate Surveyor Guidance on Calculated Hospitals during a meeting with staff in Center for Clinical Standards and quality to discuss member concerns regarding remarks of CMS official confusing during health lawyers association webinar.

Contacted: Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); Centers For Disease Control & Prevention (CDC); HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; Federal Trade Commission (FTC); Internal Revenue Service (IRS); Food & Drug Administration (FDA); SENATE; White House Office; Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS)

Bills named: S. 1349 (114th), H.R. 1784 (114th), H.R. 169 (114th), S. 799 (114th), H.R. 1458 (114th), H.R. 2878 (114th), H.R. 293 (114th), H.R. 2745 (114th), S. 1648 (114th), S. 599 (114th), H.R. 6 (114th), H.R. 1462 (114th)

Medicare/Medicaid MMM

HALO letter sent to Congress about the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) for physician payment; Support HR 672 and S 607, Rural Community Hospital (RCH) Demonstration Extension Act of 2015, a bill that will extend the demonstration for five more years, will ensure that RCH continues to help Americas communities in many ways, especially by allowing hospitals to expand and improve the services rural communities need. Also enables hospitals with fewer than 51 beds to test the feasibility of cost-based reimbursement. Affects 23 small, rural hospitals nationwide. Demo included in MMA, extended and expanded in ACA and Budget neutral; Support HR 663 and S 332, Rural Hospital Access Act of 2015, a bill that would make permanent both the Medicare-dependent Hospital (MDH) program and the enhanced low-volume Medicare adjustment for prospective payment system (PPS) hospitals, which are vital programs for rural hospitals and the patients and communities they serve; Support S 257 and HR 1611, Protecting Access to Rural Therapy Services (PARTs)Act of 2015, a bill that would provide hospitals relief from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations with respect to direct supervision of outpatient therapeutic services; Support HR 270,Flexibility in Health IT Reporting (Flex-IT) Act of 2015, a bill that requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to make a necessary adjustment to how it implements the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, which provide incentives and penalties to encourage meaningful use of EHRs by hospitals and physicians and to extend non-enforcement instruction for the Medicare direct supervision requirement for therapeutic hospital outpatient services for CAHs and rural hospitals ; Meaningful use flexibilityadvocate for a shorter meaningful use reporting period and other flexibilities that would increase hospitals ability to meet Stage 2 and move forward with the program; Support S. 377 and HR 745, Medicare Ambulance Access, Fraud Prevention, and Reform Act of 2015, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to increase access to ambulance services under the Medicare program and to reform payments for such services under such program; Support S. 688 and HR 1343, Establishing Beneficiary Equity in the Hospital Readmission Program Act of 2015, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to adjust the Medicare hospital readmission reduction program to respond to patient disparities; Support HR 2, Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to repeal the Medicare sustainable growth rate and strengthen Medicare access by improving physician payments and making other improvements, to reauthorize the Childrens Health Insurance Program; Support HR 1470, SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2015, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to repeal the Medicare sustainable growth rate and improve Medicare payments for physicians and other professionals; Support S 629, Making the Education of Nurses Dependable for Schools Act, a bill to enable hospital-based nursing programs that are affiliated with a hospital to maintain payments under the Medicare program to hospitals for the costs of such programs; Oppose Recovery Audit Contracts (RACs)Section 3 that imposes financial penalties on RACs; Support ICD-10 delay and advocate to maintain the Oct. 1, 2015 transition date for ICD-10; Discussions to oppose site neutral payments. Provide input to CMS on implementation of quality measures required under the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act of 2014; Analyze and develop suggested changes to the Personalize Your Care Act of 2015, a bill that would provide coverage of voluntary advance care planning consultation under Medicare and Medicaid; Oppose HR 2895, Medicare Patient Access to Cancer Treatment Act of 2015, a bill that would establish parity under the Medicare program for ambulatory cancer care services furnished in the hospital outpatient department and the physician office setting; Oppose HR 1295, Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015because the inclusion of the Medicare sequestration offset; Oppose HR 976 and HR 2513Promoting Access, Competition, and Equity Act of 2015(PACE) Act of 2015, a bill to allow an increase in, and expansion of, physician-owned hospitals eligible for Medicare reimbursement; Support S 1148 and HR 2124Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2015, a bill to increase the number of Medicare-supported physician residency slots; Urged SFC Chronic Care Working Group to consider expanding access to telehealth, removing legal barriers to clinical integration, and better engaging beneficiaries in their health and health care;Testified at the Observation status, Improving competition in Medicare and Prompt payment hearings; Support HR 2156, Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2015, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to reform the practices of recovery audit contractors under the Medicare program, and for other purposes.

Contacted: Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); Centers For Disease Control & Prevention (CDC); Federal Trade Commission (FTC); Internal Revenue Service (IRS); Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS); Food & Drug Administration (FDA); SENATE; HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; White House Office

Bills named: H.R. 1295 (114th), H.R. 663 (114th), H.R. 2 (114th), H.R. 672 (114th), H.R. 745 (114th), H.R. 2156 (114th), H.R. 1470 (114th), H.R. 2513 (114th), H.R. 2895 (114th), H.R. 1611 (114th), H.R. 1343 (114th), H.R. 976 (114th), H.R. 2124 (114th), H.R. 270 (114th), S. 377 (114th), S. 688 (114th)

Taxation/Internal Revenue Code TAX

Supporting clarification and further explanation in final regulations establishing 501(r) requirements for hospitals; Urging reconfiguration of Schedule H to account for housing services as a community benefit; Urging simplification of the 501(r)-related requirement to list individually all providers subject to the hospitals financial assistance policy; We urged preservation of tax exempt status for hospitals.

Contacted: Internal Revenue Service (IRS); SENATE; Federal Trade Commission (FTC); Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS); Centers For Disease Control & Prevention (CDC); Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; Food & Drug Administration (FDA); White House Office

Budget/Appropriations BUD

Support H.Con. Res. 27,S. Con. Res. 11, and H. Res. 163Concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2016, Establishing the budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2016 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2017 through 2025; Express concern to House Appropriations Committee regarding funding levels for AHRCQ and CMMI.

Contacted: Federal Trade Commission (FTC); Internal Revenue Service (IRS); HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; White House Office; Centers For Disease Control & Prevention (CDC); Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); Food & Drug Administration (FDA); Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS); SENATE

Bills named: H.Con.Res. 27 (114th), H.Res. 163 (114th), S.Con.Res. 11 (114th)

Labor Issues/Antitrust/Workplace LBR

Supporting HJ Res 29 and SJ Res. 8 to nullify NLRBs expedited union elections rule; Opposing NLRBs change in standards for determining joint employer status.

Contacted: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; SENATE; Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); Federal Trade Commission (FTC); White House Office; Centers For Disease Control & Prevention (CDC); Food & Drug Administration (FDA); Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS); Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Bills named: H.J.Res. 29 (114th), S.J.Res. 8 (114th)

Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice LAW

Opposing OFFCPs exercise of federal subcontractor oversight and enforcement for hospitals receiving federal reimbursement for providing health care services; Outlining hospitals views of the barriers, obstacles to EHR interoperability; Supporting update of standards for antitrust examination of hospital mergers that includes assessment of future competitive benefits of the arrangement; Opposing OFCCPs exercise of regulatory and enforcement authority over health care providers providing services to veterans under S. 759 Enhancing Veteran 5 Care Through Veteran Care Agreements Act of 2015.

Contacted: SENATE; Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS); HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; Centers For Disease Control & Prevention (CDC); Internal Revenue Service (IRS); Food & Drug Administration (FDA); White House Office; Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Bills named: S. 759 (114th)