Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., introduced legislation in the Senate to improve access to physician-led hospitals.
Here are five things to know about the Patient Access to Higher Quality Health Care Act of 2017:
1. The Act would repeal the moratorium on physician-owned hospitals that was enacted in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act.
2. The legislation would lift restrictions on forming and expanding physician-owned hospitals, which are often high quality and low cost facilities. Last year, seven of the top 10 hospitals with the highest overall performance scores in the CMS Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program were physician-owned.
3. Last year, physician-owned hospitals represented 5 percent of the hospitals participating in the CMS value-based purchasing program, but landed in 40 of the top 100 performing hospitals in the country. The physician-owned hospitals stand to save Medicare $3.2 billion over a 10-year period.
4. Physician Hospitals of America supports the legislation and sent a letter co-signed by more than 50 other organizations and practices — including the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons and American Association of Neurological Surgeons — in support of the bill.
5. The bill is a companion to H.R. 1156, which Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, introduced in the House of Representatives.