Lawmakers Consider Site Neutrality Proposals
Congressional committees of jurisdiction are considering legislative proposals that aim to rein in health care spending and provider consolidation by ending Medicare payment disparities in which services provided at a hospital outpatient department are reimbursed a higher rate than the same service provided in a physician office or ambulatory surgery center.
The House of Representatives passed the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act (H.R. 5378) with overwhelming bipartisan support last year. The legislation would require Medicare to pay the same rate for physician administered drugs in off-campus hospital outpatient departments as other provider settings. In September, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee advanced the Bipartisan Primary Care and Health Workforce Act (S. 2840). The bill includes a provision that would prohibit hospitals from billing facility fees for telehealth and evaluation and management services.
In the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) offered and withdrew the Site-based Invoicing and Transparency Enhancement (SITE) Act (S. 1869) as an amendment during the panel’s markup of the Better Mental Health, Lower-Cost Drugs, and Extenders Act (S. 3430) last November. Finance Committee leadership have expressed support for the proposal but are also seeking to better understand its potential impact on rural hospitals.