Alliance for Site Neutral Payment Reform Offers Support for Site Neutral Policy

in a Letter to HHS Secretary Azar

The letter commends site neutral payment provision in President Trump’s American Patients First
blueprint and urges the administration to expand site neutral payments in order to increase
competition, preserve patient choice, and reduce healthcare costs.

Washington, DC, July 16, 2018 --(PR.com)-- The Alliance for Site Neutral Payment Reform submitted a
letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar today providing support for the site neutral
payment provision for physician-administered drugs in President Trump's American Patients First
Blueprint. The letter offers feedback on the implications of site neutral payment reform and urges the
Administration to consider further expansion of site neutral payments for outpatient services.

The Alliance commends the Administration's Blueprint for correctly recognizing that the costs of
services, including drug administration, can vary significantly according to the site of service under
current policy. Hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) are reimbursed at much higher rates than
independent physician practices for providing the exact same services, which puts higher financial
burdens on patients, employers, taxpayers, payers, and the healthcare system at large. Medicare patients
pay an additional $411 million more out-of-pocket when seen in an HOPD instead of the physician's
office, according to one report.

The letter addresses the implications of site neutral payment reform on where medicine is practiced, how
healthcare systems are organized, and how competition may be affected. Specifically, the Alliance points
out how site neutral payment reform would slow the recent trend of vertical integration by removing the
financial incentive for hospitals to absorb independent physician offices into their ecosystem, where they
can charge a higher rate for the same service.

The letter states, “Payment parity is likely to have a positive effect in stemming consolidation and could
inject additional competition into the marketplace, providing patients with more choice and increased
access to various care settings,” particularly in rural areas of the country.

By protecting community clinics from being bought out at such a rapid rate, the Alliance believes that a
site neutral payment policy will increase competition, quality of care for patients, preserve patient choice,
and reduce costs for patients and other stakeholders.

“With a level playing field, hospitals and physician practices would compete on price and quality in order
to attract patients,” the letter states. “This is ultimately a positive development for patients and payers
because it will help keep costs down and promote continuous quality improvement while maintaining
patient choice. As patients would likely pay less out-of-pocket costs, payers such as Medicare would be
able to save billions over the next decade, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent more wisely.”

About the Alliance for Site Neutral Payment Reform

The Alliance for Site Neutral Payment Reform is a coalition of patient advocates, providers, payers and

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employers who support payment parity across site of service in order to decrease Medicare and
commercial spending, ensure patients receive the right care in the right setting, lower taxpayer and
beneficiary costs and increase patient access. Our growing membership represents healthcare providers,
patient and consumer groups, insurers and others who believe patients - and the healthcare system -
would be better served by policies that are fiscally wise and preserve and enhance care options. Learn
more at siteneutral.org.

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Contact Information:
Alliance For Site Neutral Payment Reform
Sarah Rhoades
703-548-0019
Contact via Email
http://www.siteneutral.org/

Online Version of Press Release:

You can read the online version of this press release at: https://www.pr.com/press-release/759499

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