Eight Iowa hospitals would be given better treatment by the Medicare program and be put in a stronger position to provide healthcare services under legislation introduced Tuesday by Sen. Charles Grassley, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance.
"These hospitals are the backbone of the rural healthcare system, and there's no justification for Medicare not recognizing their unique situation and vital role," said Grassley, an Iowa Republican. "I'm committed to doing everything I can to make sure they're treated fairly and not left in a perilous situation with Medicare."
The hospitals - in Spencer, Spirit Lake, Fort Madison, Muscatine, Carroll, Grinnell, Newton and Keokuk - are called "tweener" hospitals because they're too large to be designated as critical access hospitals but too small to be financially viable under the Medicare hospital prospective payment system, said Grassley.
Grassley's Rural Hospital Assistance Act of 2008 would benefit Medicare Dependent Hospitals by not adjusting their payments for area wages unless it would result in improved payments. It would also improve the existing low-volume add-on for low-volume rural hospitals, both Medicare Dependent and Sole Community, so that more rural facilities with low volumes would receive assistance.
"It is absolutely imperative that these tweener hospitals get the assistance they need in order to keep their doors open," Grassley said in his introduction of the bill. "They are often not only the sole provider of healthcare in rural areas, but are also significant employers and purchasers in the community."
Not all "tweener" hospitals across the country are covered under the recently passed Medicare legislation to address payment system problems. Grassley said the changes failed to deal with the issues for most of the eight "tweener" hospitals in Iowa.
These hospitals are designated as Medicare Dependent Hospitals and Sole Community Hospitals under the Medicare program. The Medicare bill that just became law improves payments for Sole Community Hospitals but contained no provisions that benefit Medicare Dependent Hospitals.
Grassley said he was disappointed a tweener measure wasn't included in the Medicare bill passed earlier this month.
The hospitals that would benefit from this legislation are Spencer Hospital, Lakes Regional Health Care in Spirit Lake, Fort Madison Community Hospital, Unity Healthcare in Muscatine, St. Anthony Hospital in Carroll, Grinnell Regional Hospital, Skiff Medical Center in Newton and the Keokuk Area Hospital.
This bill would also potentially eliminate the exceptions under the physician self-referral laws for physician-owned hospitals and provide a limited exception for existing facilities.
Do you work in a "tweener" hospital? What would this bill do for your system if it were to be passed? Send your comments to Associate Editor Chelsey Ledue at chelsey.ledue@medtechpublishing.com