Womack, Hill fight for rural hospitals

U.S. Reps. French Hill (R-AR) and Steve Womack (R-AR) joined their home-state colleagues in Congress to support a proposed rule that would increase Medicare reimbursement rates for America’s rural hospitals.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a sweeping rule proposal “to revise the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems for operating and capital-related costs of acute care hospitals,” among several other items listed in the May 3 Federal Register. Comments on the proposal were due by July 24.

In a July 23 letter sent to CMS Administrator Seema Verma, Reps. Womack, Hill and the Arkansas delegation expressed their support for the proposed rule as it relates to improving payments for hospitals below the 25th percentile on the Medicare Area Wage Index (AWI), which is one of the factors that adjust a hospital’s overall payment from the Medicare program.

“Hospitals in rural states have long been disadvantaged by the AWI methodology,” the lawmakers wrote. “With rural hospitals on the receiving end of some of the lowest reimbursement rates in the country, the current AWI methodology stands to negatively affect rural hospitals in our state and the patients they serve for years to come.”

Reps. Womack, Hill and the Arkansas delegation said the proposed rule would increase payments to hospitals below the 25th percentile on the AWI and would provide an estimated $12.3 million increase in total statewide reimbursement.

Such an increase, they wrote, would increase hospital staff wages to more competitive levels, in turn allowing the state to attract and retain skilled healthcare workers, while also making more resources available to invest in needed infrastructure and equipment, and improving quality care.

“It is our hope that CMS will promptly finalize this rule to address the significant financial strain on Arkansas’ rural hospitals,” wrote the members of Congress.