AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, and Chief Public Policy Officer Danielle Turnipseed, JD, MHSA, MPP, issued the following statement regarding the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act (H.R. 5378), specifically a provision that would reduce Medicare payments to hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs), jeopardizing of the viability of hospitals and health systems and threatening patient access to care:
“The AAMC is extremely disappointed that the U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act (H.R. 5378), which includes harmful cuts to Medicare payments to teaching health systems and hospitals and would adversely affect patient access to care and cutting-edge treatments, especially in rural and other medically underserved communities across the country. The AAMC strongly opposes so-called “site-neutral” payment policies that are, in fact, simply cuts to hospitals. These policies disregard the fundamental differences between the patients cared for in hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) and physician offices or ambulatory surgical centers.
While representing only 5% of hospitals nationwide, AAMC member teaching health systems and hospitals provide high-quality care for the sickest, most complex, and under-resourced patients, including in the outpatient setting. Nearly half of the Medicare HOPD payment cuts included in H.R. 5378 would be shouldered by our member teaching health systems and hospitals.
Though this legislation would invest in key workforce programs and mitigate pending Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payment cuts, we oppose paying for these temporary provisions with permanent cuts to the Medicare program.
We urge the U.S. Senate to oppose this legislation until harmful cuts to hospitals are removed from the bill. The AAMC remains committed to working with members of Congress to protect access to care for patients, families, and communities nationwide.”
- Press Release
AAMC Statement on House Passage of Lower Costs, More Transparency Act
The AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) is a nonprofit association dedicated to improving the health of people everywhere through medical education, health care, medical research, and community collaborations. Its members are all 158 U.S. medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education; 13 accredited Canadian medical schools; approximately 400 academic health systems and teaching hospitals, including Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and more than 70 academic societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC leads and serves America’s medical schools, academic health systems and teaching hospitals, and the millions of individuals across academic medicine, including more than 193,000 full-time faculty members, 96,000 medical students, 153,000 resident physicians, and 60,000 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the biomedical sciences. Following a 2022 merger, the Alliance of Academic Health Centers and the Alliance of Academic Health Centers International broadened participation in the AAMC by U.S. and international academic health centers.