fah hospital policy blog

This afternoon FAH filed comments with CMS regarding the 2019 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) proposed rule.

The Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) submitted comments late today on CMS’ Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule.

In a letter to CMS Administrator Seem Verma, FAH wrote, “It is imperative that providers focus on the care and well-being of their patients without unnecessary regulatory burden getting in the way…we appreciate CMS identifying a number of areas where policies can be updated, and burden reduced. However, we do have significant concerns with a number of CMS’s proposed policies including the proposal to collapse the payment rates for E/M visit codes.”

Rising and excessive drug prices threaten patient access to the drugs they need and can undermine the care physicians see as necessary for patients. The Grassley-Durbin amendment (#3787) would take a great leap forward in providing consumers useful information on drug prices that could help them buy smart. And, the public display of prices could put a spotlight on those high prices and bring them down.

FAH and its company leaders are strongly represented on the just released 2018 “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” list from Modern Healthcare. The annual ranking is a collaboration between the magazine’s senior editors and readers. After a nomination process, readers pick their favorites from a preliminary ballot of 300. The final rankings take into account vote totals and input from the senior editors.