Sponsored by Health Subcommittee Chairman Pat Tiberi (R-OH) and Ranking Member Jim McDermott (D-WA), the Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act (HIP-C) helps medical providers better treat the patients in their communities. The bipartisan bill is a part of the Committee’s ongoing effort to promote greater access, increase choices, and improve the quality of health care.
There is widespread support for provisions in HIP-C that advance commonsense reforms such as:
- Ensuring the implementation of new payment policies, such as site-neutral payments, do not unfairly affect hospitals that were in the process of building off-campus outpatient centers;
- Improving support for hospitals that provide care to cancer patients by allowing them to continue operating under a separate payment system that better meets their needs;
- Preventing hospitals serving low-income communities from being unfairly penalized in the Readmission Reduction Program by including a provision that takes into consideration socio-economic status;
- Increasing access to care in rural communities by extending for five years the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program;
- Protecting access to quality health care choices for seniors by improving transparency and preventing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from abruptly and unilaterally terminating Medicare Advantage health care plans; and
- Supporting physicians who treat patients in ambulatory surgical centers by exempting them from the Electronic Health Records Incentive Program and the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System.
For more information about the Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act, click here.
Letters of Support:
- Federation for American Hospitals
- American Hospital Association
- Association of American Medical College
Learn more about the momentum building around this legislation here >>