MHA yesterday issued a statement to the media by President and CEO Carmela Coyle shortly after the Senate released its draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act. "The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, released by the Senate today, would cause real pain for real people," she said. "It would take coverage away from millions of Americans and thousands of Marylanders, especially our most vulnerable. And it would likely trigger deep cuts to the Medicaid program. The Senate bill's aim in short seems to be less about helping people and more about attracting votes. We anxiously await the Congressional Budget Office's estimates of the bill's actual budget and coverage cuts." Click here to read the entire statement.

 

American Hospital Association President and CEO Rick Pollack also issued a statement . "From the onset of this debate, America's hospitals and health systems have been guided by a set of key principles that would protect coverage for Americans," he said. "Unfortunately, the draft bill under discussion in the Senate moves in the opposite direction, particularly for our most vulnerable patients. The Senate proposal would likely trigger deep cuts to the Medicaid program that covers millions of Americans with chronic conditions such as cancer, along with the elderly and individuals with disabilities who need long-term services and support. Medicaid cuts of this magnitude are unsustainable and will increase costs to individuals with private insurance. We urge the Senate to go back to the drawing board and develop legislation that continues to provide coverage to all Americans who currently have it."

 

Click here for a summary of the bill based on AHA's initial review of the draft legislation. A Congressional Budget Office estimate of the impact of the draft is not yet available but is expected early next week. A vote in the Senate is anticipated next week and at 3 p.m. Monday, AHA will host a members-only advocacy call to discuss next steps. Click here to register.

As part of their continued work to help hospitals reduce health disparities, MHA and the Maryland Healthcare Education Institute have provided stratified data on readmissions, mortality and infections to attendees of recent Equity of Care meetings. Additional meetings are being planned for the fall, but if you are involved with efforts to reduce health disparities and have not received either invitations for meetings or hospital-specific data stratified by race, ethnicity, and language, please contact Mark Rulle or David Simon.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week issued a proposed rule updating the requirements of the quality payment program (QPP) for physicians and eligible clinicians mandated by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. The QPP includes two tracks - the default Merit-based Incentive Payment System and advanced alternative payment models. The rule proposes key policies for the QPP's 2018 performance period, which will affect clinician payment in 2020. "[The] proposed rule continues the incremental, flexible implementation approach called for by hospitals, health systems and the more than 500,000 employed and contracted physicians with whom they partner to deliver care," AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels said in a statement. CMS will host a webinar Monday, June 26 at 1 p.m. on the proposed rule. To register, click here.

One challenge to rural hospitals is workforce planning. To help address this problem, the American Hospital Association's Health Career Center has developed four videos to assist rural hospitals with the issues of shortages, an aging population and the changing health care environment. The videos focus on team building, retention, leadership, and behavioral health, and are available here.