News Releases

Congress to Return to a Full Agenda in September

As we look toward the end of summer and the return to Washington in early September by members of Congress, we will begin one of the busiest times of the year for lawmakers on the Hill. At the top of their list will be funding the government. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law at the end of 2022, keeps the government running through the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30. With the return of the Senate on Sept. 5 and the House on Sept. 12, negotiations will begin on the fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget.

Critical needs for hospitals and healthcare will include passing the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), which funds hospital emergency preparedness activities, and preventing cuts to the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) program. Scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 1, the DSH cuts would equate to approximately $8 billion in reductions in FY 2024 alone.

At the beginning of August, a bipartisan letter signed by 51 Senators, including both Sen. Sherrod Brown and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, was submitted to Senate leadership urging action to prevent Medicaid DSH payment cuts from going into effect. The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed legislation in July that would eliminate cuts in FY 2024 and FY 2025, but no further Congressional action has taken place yet.

Also of importance to hospitals is the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act, H.R. 2584. The bill would give healthcare workers the same legal protections against assault and intimidation as aircraft and airport workers and provide grants to hospitals for programs to help reduce the incidence of violence in care settings.

The Center for Health Affairs is also urging members of the Northeast Ohio congressional delegation to reject site-neutral payment policies, such as those included in H.R. 4822 and H.R. 3561 and legislation being considered in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Under these policies, the payment for a service provided to a patient is the same regardless of the setting where the service is provided. Payment proposals that attempt to treat hospital outpatient departments the same as independent physician offices and other ambulatory sites of care ignore the very different level of care provided by hospitals and the needs of the patients and communities cared for in that setting.

Medicare significantly underpays hospitals for the cost of caring for patients. Medicare outpatient margins were an average of negative 17.5% in 2021 alone. Site-neutral payment policies would further deepen these underpayments.

The Center for Health Affairs will continue to advocate for hospitals on these and other crucial issues as they arise during the remainder of this year.