WASHINGTON – The debate over how multi-campus hospitals will be eligible for meaningful use incentives continues on Capitol Hill. Last month, a bipartisan group of more than 50 House members submitted a bill that would change how Medicare and Medicaid incentives are paid to those hospitals.

 

The meaningful use rule, published July 13, provides only one payment for multi-campus hospitals, treating them as if they were only one hospital. It’s a method that the American Hospital Association, Premier healthcare alliance and others have called unfair.

 

A similar bill submitted last year failed to pass.

 

The most recent bill is called the Equal Access and Parity for Multi-Campus Hospitals Act (H.R. 2500). It calls for the incentive payments to go to each campus of a multi-campus hospital system. Under current regulations, hospital systems with multiple campuses with a single Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services certification number receive one incentive payment. Health sytems that have certification numbers for each hospital are eligible for multiple payments.

 

Reps. Michael Burgess, MD (R-Texas), Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) introduced the new bill.

 

The bill corrects “omissions made in previous legislation designed to aid health professionals to incorporate health information technology into their systems,” said Engel, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health. “I believe that multi-campus hospitals should not be penalized for having more than one location.”

 

“The current rule provides only one payment for multi-campus hospitals, treating them as if they were only one hospital,” said Burgess, vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health. “In reality, though, if a hospital has multiple campuses, they will be spending money for HIT implementation at each location. Even after several attempts to get this provision fixed, the rule still ignored the issue, and this bill would finally fix the problem.”

 

“This bill clarifies Congressional intent to provide a commonsense, fair approach for multi-campus health systems. We need widespread adoption of electronic health records and incentive payments to provide increased quality of care for the American people. I am proud to be part of this bi-partisan bill and will work to see its quick passage,” said Rangel.

 

“This legislation is instrumental to delivering the promise of electronic health records to more Americans,” AHA President and CEO Rich Umbdenstock said. “And with integrated electronic health records will come improved patient outcomes and efficiencies in care delivery to support better health and healthcare.”