Reed introduces bipartisan bill providing rural hospitals with Medicare repayment relief

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) on July 10 cosponsored a bipartisan bill to provide relief for small rural hospitals and help them remain open in order to provide care to patients in upstate New York.

Rep. Reed introduced the Access for Rural Communities (ARC) Act, H.R. 3672, with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-NY) and fellow cosponsor U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).

“We care about ensuring the hardworking people throughout rural New York have access to hospitals,” Rep. Reed said on July 12. “By slashing bureaucratic red tape we can guarantee the hospitals in our backyard are able to continue their mission of delivering healthcare to people in their times of need.”

If enacted, H.R. 3672 would legislatively correct a problem resulting from a 2015 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) decision that impacted 16 rural New York hospitals, according to information provided by Rep. Reed’s office.

The CMS decision permitted certain Medicare contractors to seek recoupment payments from the 16 New York hospitals, which faced or continue to face recoupments that could total $15 million to $20 million, plus a punitive interest rate exceeding 9 percent, according to the information.

H.R. 3672 would provide CMS with the authority to correct the hospital payments in specific situations.

“In the case of a sole community hospital or a Medicare-dependent, small rural hospital with respect to which a Medicare administrative contractor determined a volume decrease adjustment applies for any specified cost reporting period, at the election of the hospital, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall recalculate the amount of the volume decrease adjustment … using the revised volume decrease adjustment payment methodology,” the bill’s text states.

The measure has been referred for consideration to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee.