Lubbock Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On July 17, several key stakeholders released statements in support of the Medicare Patient Access to Cancer Treatment (MPACT) Act, a bill introduced by Rep. Arrington (TX-19), Rep. Burgess (TX-26), and Rep. Lesko (AZ-8) on Friday, July 7th.

The MPACT Act will:

• Level the playing field in Medicare reimbursement for outpatient cancer care.
• Ensure patient access to high-quality, cost-effective care in community cancer clinics.
• Eliminate financial incentives for hospital acquisition of community cancer clinics, which drive up health care costs.

“Unnecessary costs in health care are not only breaking the bank of working families, they are bankrupting our country. We are long overdue for common sense health care reforms like the MPACT Act, which will level the playing field for cancer care facilities, provide better access for cancer patients, and save taxpayers significant costs,” said Rep. Arrington. “Patients, providers, and taxpayers should pay the same amount for the same service, regardless of the setting.”

The Large Urology Group Practice Association (LUGPA), President, Dr. Evan Goldfischer said, “Levelling the payment disparities between hospitals and free-standing practices for delivering identical cancer treatments is a priority for LUGPA and will help stymie the troubling trend of hospital acquisitions of physician practices.” Dr. Mara Holton, Chairman of Health Policy for LUGPA said, “This legislation closes a key loophole in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which has perpetuated the payment disparities that favor higher cost care in hospital-owned off-campus physician practices.”

A representative of Bridge Oncology stated, “community-based healthcare costs, predominantly in rural areas, have risen disproportionately over the past two decades due to reimbursement disparities and maldistribution of resources. Ultimately, these costs are passed to the patients in rural settings through increased out-of-pocket expenses and reduced access to high level cancer care. We, at Bridge Oncology, support Representatives Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), and Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX) on the development of H.R. 4473 – The Medicare Patient Access to Cancer Treatment Act of 2023 which would ensure that all cancer patients receive the comprehensive care that they deserve, regardless of their geographic location.”

Americans for Prosperity said, “Medicare subsidizes hospital monopolies and drives up the cost of care for cancer patients by paying higher reimbursements to physician practices when they merge with hospitals,” says Dean Clancy, Senior Health Policy Fellow, Americans for Prosperity. “The Medicare Patient Access to Cancer Treatment Act takes important steps to reduce health care costs and improve Medicare’s solvency by equalizing Medicare’s payments for cancer treatment services between independent and hospital-owned practices.”

Rick Snyder, M.D., President of the Texas Medical Association said, “Site neutrality cures budget neutrality. We’ve run the numbers using some common procedures in our clinic, and our savings compared with hospital costs for those procedures are in the millions of dollars per year, just for those procedures. We applaud Congressman Arrington for recognizing and pursuing this cost-saving measure.”

TO FIND MORE INFORMATION ON THE MPACT ACT PLEASE REFER TO THE ONE PAGER HERE, OR CLICK HERE TO SEE THE BILL TEXT.

Original source can be found here.