Premier Calls on Congress to Pass Key Healthcare Legislation in 2024

As the new year begins, and as Congress embarks on the second session of the 118^th Congress, Premier sent a letter urging lawmakers to take action to protect Americans’ access to high-quality and cost-effective care by addressing pressing legislative healthcare priorities. These include:

• Preventing impending cuts to Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments that would exacerbate the intense financial pressures facing hospitals and threaten access for our most vulnerable populations;
• Providing continued funding for community health centers as well as other expiring public health and workforce training programs;
• Reinstating incentives under Medicare to support movement to alternative payment models that deliver high-value care for beneficiaries;
• Continuing policies to prevent providers from being disenrolled in the 340B drug discount program;
• Mitigating Medicare payment reductions to physicians and other key providers; and
• Reauthorizing the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA).

Beyond these pressing near-term actions, Premier urges lawmakers to work in a bipartisan manner throughout the 118^th Congress to advance additional meaningful legislation to serve patients and improve healthcare:

• Ensuring patient access to long-term care (LTC) pharmacy services by enacting legislation to establish a uniform LTC pharmacy definition that explicitly identifies important LTC pharmacy service offerings;
• Preserving Medicare patient access to home infusion by passing the Preserving Patient Access to Home Infusion Act (S. 1976 / H.R. 4104);
• Helping to address healthcare workforce shortages by passing the bipartisan Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act (S. 2768 / H.R. 2584);
• Addressing flaws in CMS’ ability to measure true costs of providing care;
• Advancing bipartisan solutions that will ensure that critical medical products are delivered safely, swiftly, and efficiently to providers and patients, including the Medical Supply Chain Resiliency Act (S. 2115 / H.R. 4307) and additional policies to reduce overreliance on foreign manufacturers;
• Pursuing a thoughtful, consensus-driven approach to artificial intelligence policy;
• Alleviating the harm, burdens and costs of prior authorization in healthcare;
• Providing further extensions of telehealth and Hospital at Home policies;
• Incentivizing adoption of interoperable information technology in long-term and post-acute care settings; and
• Improving the Congressional Budget Office modeling capabilities on healthcare policies by passing the bipartisan, bicameral Preventive Health Savings Act (S.114 / H.R.766).