Federal Priority Issues

North Carolina’s not-for-profit hospitals and health systems provide robust community benefits and generous charity care policies as required by federal law. NCHA supports hospitals maintaining their ability to tailor these benefits based on the needs in their communities.

NCHA supports timely, flexible access  to  funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), which provides support for authorized federal disaster activities. During times of crisis, DRF contributions are vital to hospitals in serving their communities and NCHA supports robust funding to address critical recovery needs.

North Carolina hospitals and health systems urge Congress to modernize the Emergency Treatment and Active Labor Act to provide avenues for providers to get patients to the right care at the right place.

Every North Carolinian deserves access to highly trained doctors. Congress should increase the number of Medicare funded GME slots and expand funding for medical education programs at the Health Resources and Services Administration.

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NCHA supports policies that strengthen CMS’s Medicaid State Directed Payment Program (DPP), which is vital to ensure providers receive payments that are closer to the cost of care. NCHA supports the core goals of this CMS program to promote access to care for vulnerable patients, enhance quality, and aid safety-net hospitals.

Hospital at Home is a promising model for health care organizations to deliver hospital-level treatment in a patient’s home. NCHA supports efforts to make Hospital at Home more accessible and to guarantee all providers offering the program can be sufficiently reimbursed by all payors.

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When hospital teammates and patients enter a North Carolina hospital, they deserve a safe environment. NCHA supports policies that empower hospitals to create individualized workplace safety protocols that promote safety and wellbeing for patients and team members and eliminates violence in all forms.

Healthcare coverage with high out-of-pocket expenses, such as high deductible plans, stick patients with large bills when they need medical care. NCHA supports policies that bring transparency to insurance plans’ benefit design and coverage while reducing practices that cause delays in delivering timely care to our patients. Certain insurance practices, like inappropriate prior authorization and murky medical review standards, only serve the insurers’ bottom line. By reforming these practices, patients will receive necessary care how and when it is needed.

NCHA supports sustainable and fair CMS Medicare payments for physicians to better support physicians.

Hospitals and health systems provide patients with the information they need such as out-of-pocket costs, quality metrics, and associated health outcomes to make informed decisions about their health and healthcare and are in compliance with federal law and regulations. NCHA supports policies to ensure insurance companies provide more transparency to patients and their out-of-pocket costs that include reforms to well-documented and widespread insurance practices that delay and deny patients’ care and health insurance coverage.

Hospitals often serve as the backbone of healthcare access for rural communities. NCHA supports policies that improve access to care for our rural communities and solutions aimed at addressing some of the most pressing issues such as workforce, improved health outcomes, and better access for patients.

North Carolina hospitals and health systems are the backbone of our healthcare system and always rise to the occasion to provide 24/7 access to care for all types of patients, serve as a safety net provider for vulnerable populations, and provide the resources to respond to disasters. Congress should oppose site neutral policies as they would impose billions of dollars in additional Medicare payment cuts for essential services provided by hospital outpatient departments, and reduce patient access to vital health care, particularly in rural and other medically underserved communities.

Our patients deserve to have peace of mind about their healthcare finances, and NCHA supports efforts to protect patients from surprise bills. Federal law should encourage private negotiations between providers and insurers without government controls while ensuring providers are not financially harmed by disproportionately larger payors controlling reimbursement rates. NCHA supports collaboration with policymakers to ensure that Price Transparency and Surprise Billing Regulations benefit patients and maintain patient access to affordable healthcare.

The role of telehealth and remote patient care cannot be overstated in bringing care to communities who would otherwise not have access. NCHA supports further protecting patients’ rights for telehealth coverage and expansion of broadband access to bring healthcare to every community. To bring healthcare to every North Carolina community, NCHA supports Congress making temporary telehealth changes permanent and further exploring opportunities for new innovations in remote patient care.

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The 340B drug pricing program stretches scarce federal resources by offsetting a portion of the financial losses hospitals experience from serving patients covered under federally funded health care programs. NCHA supports the 340B program, which helps provide medical care to our most vulnerable communities, and supports policies to keep the 340B program strong including empowering HRSA to enforce the program requirements.