Urge Your Federal Representatives to Provide Immediate Financial Relief for Hospitals

January 25, 2022

FEDERAL ADVOCACY ALERT

ACTION REQUESTED: Contact your federal representatives and urge them to include critical hospital and health system priorities in upcoming legislation.

BACKGROUND: Congress is currently working on an omnibus budget agreement to fund the federal government beyond Feb. 18, when the current funding measure expires. IHA is coordinating with our national partner, the American Hospital Association (AHA) to advocate for additional financial relief for hospitals and health systems to be included in a “must-pass” spending package. Additional financial resources are urgently needed to assist Illinois hospitals with workforce challenges and the ongoing financial strain caused by the pandemic.

We ask Congress to take action on the following policies:

Provider Relief Fund (PRF)

  • Immediately distribute and account for remaining funds in the PRF, including extending the deadline for spending funds.
  • Provide $25 billion in additional PRF dollars to support providers who continue to have lost revenues and increased expenses due to the delta and omicron variants.

Medicare Sequester Relief

  • Extend Medicare sequester relief until the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency or Dec. 31, 2022, whichever is later.

Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Program Loans

  • Suspend repayments for six months and reduce the rate of recoupment for the following 12 months.

340B Hospital Eligibility

  • Protect 340B Drug Pricing Program eligibility for hospitals experiencing changes in their payer mix that lowered their disproportionate share hospital (DSH) percentage, threatening the ability for some hospitals to maintain eligibility.

Click here to send a message to your member of Congress. A template email is available here, and IHA’s recent letter to the delegation is here.

Additionally, American Hospital Association members are invited to register for the upcoming Virtual Advocacy Day event on Feb. 1.

Contact us with any questions.