Urge Your Federal Representatives to Include Hospital Priorities in End-of-Year Legislation

November 30, 2021

FEDERAL ADVOCACY ALERT

ACTION REQUESTED: Contact your federal representatives and urge them to include critical hospital and health system priorities in end-of-year legislation.

BACKGROUND: Congress is working to pass several major priorities before the end of the year, including legislation to fund the federal government beyond Dec. 3, as well as a measure to increase the nation’s debt limit. IHA is working with our national partner, the American Hospital Association, and hospitals around the country to urge lawmakers to include critical hospital and health system priorities in year-end legislation, among them:

  • Protecting hospitals from 2% Medicare sequestration cuts, which take effect on Jan. 1, 2022, without action from Congress;
  • Preventing statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Act of 2010 sequester cuts from taking effect at the end of this session of Congress;
  • Permanently extending telehealth flexibilities permitted during the pandemic, including removing geographic restrictions on the location of the patient and allowing rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers to serve as the distant site and allowing critical access hospitals the same ability to offer and bill for telehealth services;
  • Improving the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) by passing the Provider Relief Fund Improvement Act (H.R. 5963) to allow hospitals and health systems to access remaining funds from the PRF and to provide additional flexibility in how and when to use them; and
  • Protecting eligibility in the 340B Program by passing S. 773/H.R. 3203 to protect hospitals that may have experienced changes to their Medicare disproportionate share hospital adjustment percentage during the pandemic.  

To look up your members of Congress and their contact information, click here and fill in your local information in the “Find Politicians” box. To email your members of Congress, click here. A template letter/email is available here, and IHA’s recent letter to the delegation is here.

Contact us with any questions.

Additional resources:
AHA members may access their advocacy alert here.
Coalition to Protect America’s Healthcare television and digital advertisements are here.