The American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals released a statement against physician-owned hospitals April 24.
The statement pulled from data published by the AHA, which demonstrated that physician-owned hospitals had higher patient care and overall Medicare margins and lower unreimbursed and uncompensated care costs as a percentage of net patient revenue than non-physician-owned hospitals.
The statement also expresses support for Congress' ban on new physician-owned hospitals, which is reinforced in the 2024 inpatient prospective payment system proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Current law allows physician-owned hospitals to expand if they are designated as "high Medicaid" facilities.
The proposed rule, which recommends reinstating certain restrictions on such facilities, reads that "protecting the Medicare program and its beneficiaries, as well as Medicaid beneficiaries, uninsured patients, and other underserved populations, from harms such as overutilization, patient steering, cherry-picking, and lemon-dropping outweighs any perceived burden on high Medicaid facilities."
The statement was credited to Federation of American Hospitals President and CEO Chip Kahn and AHA Executive Vice President of Government Relations and Public Policy Stacey Hughes.
"It is time to face the facts and acknowledge that POHs are not good for patients, communities, the integrity of the Medicare program, or providers who are actually in the business of caring for all patients, 24/7, regardless of their ability to pay or their medical condition," the statement read.