A farm bill currently being mulled in Congress has prompted healthcare-related disturbances on both sides of the aisle.
Provisions in the legislation have the American Medical Association and American Hospital association concerned for different reasons.
AMA officials say a new provision in the bill is a "sneak attack by general hospitals attempting to eliminate competition" - the provision would effectively ban specialty hospitals.
"While it's unusual to think of farmers and hospitals together, the farm bill conference report has thrown them together at the expense of America's patients," said William G. Plested III, MD, former AMA president. "Opponents of physician-owned specialty hospitals are trying to slip a provision to ban specialty hospitals into the farm bill conference report, well after the bill has been passed by both the House and Senate."
"Access to care for Medicare patients is already at risk because of looming Medicare physician payment cuts," Plested said. "Taking away a venue in which patients receive high-quality care is antithetical to the goal of improving seniors' access to care."
"As we work to improve the healthcare system, it is bad policy to take away patients' healthcare choices by banning specialty hospitals - especially under the cover of the farm bill," Plested said. "This is a sneak attack by general hospitals attempting to eliminate competition, and it is wrong to insert unrelated health care provisions into the farm bill that were not part of the House and Senate floor action."
The AHA, meanwhile, contends that another provision being tacked onto the farm bill could ban physician self-referrals due to the conflict of interest it creates between a patient's healthcare needs and physician's financial interest.
Over the last year, the House of Representatives has twice passed a ban on physician self-referrals to hospitals in which the physician has an ownership interest.
"Clearly Congress is openly and strongly committed to addressing this issue as quickly as possible," the AHA said. "The provision being considered in the farm bill would not close physician-owned hospitals. It would simply stop physician self-referral to new facilities."
Including a provision in the farm bill to ban self-referral would protect patient access to vital healthcare services, a well as ensure fair competition in healthcare, according to the AHA.
"Keep the farm bill for the farmers," Plested said.
The farm bill's official name can't be found because the Congressional conferees for this bill are not sharing any language during this process, according to David Allen, associate director of media relations at the AHA.