In our letter WSHA strongly urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ to withdraw its proposed sixty percent payment cut to office visit services provided at off-campus hospital-based clinic locations. The American Hospital Association estimates the proposed change in the Outpatient Prospective Payment System rule would reduce Medicare payments by $30 million to Washington hospitals for 2019, and $439 million over a ten-year period. We thank our member hospitals that also submitted comments demonstrating the negative impact of the proposed change on services in their communities. The comment period for the Outpatient Prospective Payment System proposed rule ends September 24.
Related to this, WSHA will be encouraging our state’s Congressional delegation to sign onto the Congressional letters (so-called Dear Colleague letters) urging CMS to withdraw the proposal. WSHA staff and representatives from member hospitals will be meeting with Washington State’s congressional delegation during Rural Advocacy Days next week. (Andrew Busz, andrewb@wsha.org)