LTAC Hospital Legislation Introduced in U.S. House

LTAC Hospital Legislation Introduced in U.S. House

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Last week, U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-CT) and U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) introduced the Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2124).

H.R. 2124 protects patient access to care in Long-Term, Acute-Care (LTAC) hospitals while federal regulators and the private sector work towards development of additional facility and patient criteria and while Congress undertakes comprehensive healthcare reform.

H.R. 2124 provides for a two-year extension of certain LTAC hospital provisions found in the “Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007” (MMSEA), Public Law 110-173. In addition to explicit savings resulting from a two-year extension of a moratorium on new LTAC hospitals, the proposed legislation contains a budget neutrality provision which provides for cost savings over a five-year period to pay for this legislation in full.

The Acute Long-Term Hospital Association (ALTHA), the Washington-based trade association representing approximately three-quarters of the nation’s LTAC hospitals, strongly supports this legislation and is grateful for the efforts of these four senior Members of the House Ways & Means Committee.

William Walters, ALTHA’s chief executive officer, said of H.R. 2124: “This bill will help maintain a relatively stable clinical environment for the 130,000 patients treated in America’s 400 LTAC hospitals and for the 60,000 Americans our hospitals employ. If enacted, the bill would give LTAC hospitals time to work with federal regulators in creating new admission criteria and time to work with Congress in developing President Obama’s new post-acute policies. We are extremely grateful to these four distinguished Members of the U.S. House.”

ALTHA is the Washington-based trade association of LTAC hospitals, representing three-fourths of the LTAC hospitals nationwide. ALTHA hospital members include Kindred Healthcare (NYSE:KND), Select Medical Corporation, Triumph Healthcare, LifeCare Hospitals, HealthSouth (NYSE:HLS), Promise Healthcare, RehabCare Group (NYSE:RHB), Regency Hospital Company, LHC Group (NASDAQ:LHCG), and many others. For more information, please visit www.altha.org or call Dustin Siggins, Assistant Director of Communications, at 703-518-9900.

Tags: Congress, Government, Healthcare

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