Nine hospital groups urged a special Congressional panel reviewing fiscal year 2014 budget recommendations to not make further cuts to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, Bloomberg BNA reports. In an Oct. 28 letter, America's Essential Hospitals, the American Hospital Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, Catholic Health Association of the United States, the Children's Hospital Association, the Federation of American Hospitals, the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems, Premier Healthcare Alliance and VHA Inc. told the committee that local hospitals can't continue to meet the needs of their communities if the federal government makes further cuts and underpayments. "With total cuts approaching nearly half a trillion over the next ten years, including nearly $45 billion in Medicare sequestration cuts, many local hospitals are nearing a breaking point in their ability to ensure patients have the care they need, when they need it. In the last three years alone, hospitals have been subjected to more than $95 billion in cuts," the letter said. "This comes on top of the more than $40 billion in uncompensated care hospitals provide to vulnerable patients every year." Article