Rep. John E. Peterson, R-Pa. (5th CD), issued the following press release:
Rep. John E. Peterson, R-Pleasantville, joined several of his rural colleagues on Capitol Hill this morning in announcing his support for legislation to extend provisions in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 designed to ensure that rural Americans have access to quality, affordable health care.
'The extension of these critical reimbursement provisions for rural health care providers should be a top priority of this Congress,' said Peterson. 'Folks in rural areas already face tough challenges when it comes to receiving timely, quality health care. It's the federal government's job to recognize the scope and severity of those challenges, and work to create the most equitable repayment plan it can. This bill accomplishes that important mandate.'
Peterson, who co-chairs the 145-member Congressional Rural Caucus, worked with other rural lawmakers during the Medicare deliberations in 2003 to include important reforms in the final version of the bill to improve reimbursement plans for rural hospitals and health care providers, which have historically been underfunded compared to their larger, urban counterparts. Led by Peterson and more than 80 House lawmakers representing rural districts across the country, the group was successful in getting their colleagues to agree to the inclusion of more than $25 billion in the Medicare bill for rural hospitals, physicians, home health agencies, ambulance services, and other health care providers.
'When the Medicare bill was being considered in 2003, my rural colleagues stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me to ensure that our rural hospitals and health care providers got a fair shake in the final version of the bill,' said Peterson. 'Three years later, we stand ready to go to work once again, and I'm hopeful this time we'll be able to extend that important rural payment relief into the future.'
This legislation, H.R. 5118, would extend Medicare reimbursement methods for services provided in isolated or underserved areas in America to help ensure that such reimbursements are equitable and fair for costs incurred by rural health providers. H.R. 5118 was introduced in early April and now enjoys the bi-partisan support of more than 50 co-sponsors.
Among some of the other important provisions included in H.R. 5118:
* Extend the 5% payment adjustment for home health services provided in rural areas to help offset higher home health delivery costs, which can be as much as 12- to 15-percent higher than in urban areas;
* Extend the Medicare incentive payment program for physicians practicing in designated physician scarcity areas, communities and counties throughout the nation recognized as having low number of physicians serving populations in rural areas;
* Extend the 2% bonus payment for ambulance trips in rural areas to help offset the higher costs of ambulance services in rural areas, which contain farther distances between patients and care facilities;
* Extend the 1.0 floor on Medicare physician reimbursements to rural areas, who would be penalized for geographic location without extension of the MMA provision, to ensure fair and reasonable repayment to facilities and care providers in rural areas;
* Extend the hold harmless treatment for the nation's 535 sole community hospitals, which provide inpatient health services for residents in rural, isolated communities, to ensure equitable reimbursements for services provided; and,
* Extend reasonable cost reimbursement for clinical lab tests performed by rural hospitals as part of their outpatient services (i.e. for area patients receiving care at home or in nursing homes).
In addition to earning bi-partisan support on Capitol Hill, H.R. 5118 has also garnered the endorsements of several prominent rural health organizations, including the American Hospital Association, National Rural Health Association, American Osteopathic Association, and the National Association for Home Care and Hospice.
