AAMC Issues Statement Lamenting House-Passed HOPD Cuts 

AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, and Chief Public Policy Officer Danielle Turnipseed JD, MHSA, MPP, issued a statement on Dec. 11 lamenting House-passed cuts to Medicare payments to hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs). The statement was released after the House voted 320-71 to pass the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act (H.R. 5378), legislation that would cut Medicare payments to drug administration services in HOPDs. The AAMC opposes so-called site-neutral payment policies.  

The statement noted that, “While representing only 5% of hospitals nationwide … Nearly half of the Medicare HOPD payment cuts included in H.R. 5378 would be shouldered by our member teaching health systems and hospitals.” The statement recognized that H.R. 5378 contained key investments in workforce programs and an elimination of Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) cuts, but that those temporary provisions should not be financed by permanent cuts to Medicare payments.