Premier Responds to House Committee RFI on Rural Healthcare

Premier submitted comments on the House Ways and Means Committee’s Request for Information (RFI) on a range of policy solutions to improve access to care for individuals living in rural and underserved communities. In its response, Premier asked Congress to:

• Address geographic payment differences in rural and underserved areas by developing legislation that requires CMS to adopt new or supplemental data sources for calculating labor costs in the annual provider payment update processes to more accurately reflect true costs.
• Ensure sustainable provider and facility financing by:
  • Providing stability in Medicare payments;
  • Removing statutory restrictions on the Rural Emergency Hospital designation;
  • Eliminating the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payment cuts;
  • Funding Community Health Centers; and
  • Improving access to home infusion therapy.
• Improve access to telehealth, including by providing maximum telehealth flexibilities to providers in alternative payment models and increasing those flexibilities with adoption of risk.
• Advance policies to address healthcare workforce challenges by passing legislation to strengthen laws to protect healthcare workers from violence, boost the pediatric and physician and non-physician pipeline and take actions to leverage qualified international resources.
• Support innovative models and technologies by:
  • Developing/recruiting participants for Medicare payment models that emphasize improving quality, access and sustainability in rural areas;
  • Adopting technology in healthcare settings to optimize workflows and reduce administrative burden and stress on workers; and
  • Incentivize interoperable health information technology in long-term and post-acute care settings.