Letters

Throughout the year, the AHA comments on a vast number of proposed and interim final rules put forth by the federal regulatory agencies. In addition, AHA communicates with federal legislators to convey the hospital field's position on potential legislative changes that would impact patients and patient care. Below are the most recent letters from the AHA to these bodies.

Latest

The AHA expresses support for the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act.
AHA comments on the proposed Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM).
AHA comment letter on the CMS’ fiscal year 2025 LTCH prospective payment system (PPS) proposed rule.
AHA thanks the Senate Committee on Finance for the opportunity to comment on its draft legislation, the “Drug Shortage Prevention and Mitigation Act.”
AHA comments on the CMS;s hospital inpatient prospective payment system (PPS) proposed rule for fiscal year (FY) 2025.
AHA expresses strong support for the 340B program and urges Congress to protect this critical program as it has done for more than three decades.
Timely and accurate information on Medicare Advantage plan performance and compliance with existing CMS regulations is critical to ensuring that those enrolled in MA plans are not unfairly subjected to more restrictive rules and requirements than Traditional Medicare, which are contrary to the intent of the MA program and run afoul of federal rules.
While we are grateful for the chance to provide feedback on the revisions to the IPF PPS as well as the development of an IPF patient assessment instrument (PAI), we urge CMS to proceed on the latter with more caution and less haste. We are concerned that CMS’ proposed market basket update is inadequate to ensure continued support of the vital services IPFs provide to their communities.
As such, AHA is concerned that CMS’ payment updates, in addition to increased requirements on skilled-nursing facilities (SNFs), will exacerbate their, as well as hospitals’, financial difficulties. Therefore, we request that CMS more closely examine its process for forecasting and providing market basket updates.