FAH and the American Hospital Association (AHA) sent a letter to members of Congress today urging them to oppose H.R. 3062, the Patient Access to Higher Quality Health Care Act of 2019, which seeks to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s limit on self-referral to physician-owned hospitals. Repealing the ban on self-referral would lead to these facilities cherry-picking patients and increasing health care costs on taxpayers.

The letter uses recent data to highlight the harmful effects this practice has on the hospital industry.

“The empirical record is clear that these conflict-of-interest arrangements of hospital ownership and self-referral by physicians result in cherry-picking of the healthiest and wealthiest patients, excessive utilization of care and patient safety concerns,” wrote FAH and AHA.

You can find the complete letter here.

H.R. 3062 was introduced by Rep. Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), Republican Leader of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, and Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX). This bill is similar to the legislation introduced by Former-Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) in previous Congresses.