Two of the nation's largest healthcare groups are suing the Trump administration over a final rule to institute site-neutral payments for clinic visits, saying the policy would hurt patients.
Last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the 2019 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) rule (PDF), which will gradually institute site-neutral payments in the Medicare program over the next two years. Agency officials said site-neutral payments for clinic visits will lower out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries and save the program as much as $380 million in 2019.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) said the rule would lead to access problems as hospitals cut services, hurting vulnerable patients. The associations claimed the administration is overstepping its legal bounds and were joined in the legal action by Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles, Washington; Mercy Health in Muskegon, Michigan; and York Hospital in York, Maine.
"These cuts directly undercut the clear intent of Congress to protect hospital outpatient departments because of the real and crucial differences between them and other sites of care,” said Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the AHA, in a statement.
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AHA said it was planning legal action shortly after the rule was finalized.
Physician groups, including the American Association of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the American College of Physicians (ACP) as well as groups like the Cancer Oncology Alliance, have supported site-neutral payments for some time. AAFP has said site-neutral payments can also help community clinics stay open at a time many have had to close due to vertical integration, consequently advancing patient choice and reducing costs.
But hospital groups oppose the rule, which also expands a CMS policy limiting how much drug companies can charge hospitals for their products in the 340B program.
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“Patients who receive care in a hospital outpatient department are more likely to be poorer and have more severe chronic conditions than patients treated in an independent physician office," Pollack said. "In addition, only hospitals provide 24/7 access to care for patients, regardless of their ability to pay, hospitals are held to far higher regulatory requirements, and hospital outpatient departments in inner cities and rural areas are often the only sites of care that provide the services they do.”
Most recently, AHA had sued CMS over the 340B program changes before HHS bumped up the implementation date last month for changes that would set price ceilings and add civil monetary penalties for manufacturers—two changes the AHA supported.
See a copy of the lawsuit below.