Last week, the Washington Post Editorial Board published a piece noting that site-neutral payments for chemotherapy could save Medicare billions and urged the Senate to pass the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, legislation to hold corporate hospital systems responsible for their billing practices.
“[The Lower Costs, More Transparency Act] actually would end a longstanding, but irrational, disparity in Medicare reimbursements for certain treatments, depending on whether they are administered in doctors’ offices or hospitals.
The savings would be more than $3.7 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. And beneficiaries’ co-payments would go down, too — by $40 a visit. The next thing that needs to happen is for the Senate to follow suit,” said the Editorial Board in the piece.
America’s employers know all too well how the rapidly increasing cost of care creates barriers to good health. We cannot solve the healthcare affordability crisis in America without addressing the role of corporate hospital systems.
While corporate hospital systems defend the status quo, Better Solutions for Healthcare will continue to shine a light on this broken system and support policies that promote hospital competition, enforce federal price transparency laws for hospital charges, rein in hospital markups, and ensure honest billing practices.