On Monday, KHA Contacted Congressman Brett Guthrie regarding the Ban Surprise Billing Act. As Guthrie is a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, which will mark up this legislation, it is important he hears the concerns Kentucky hospitals have with the bill.

Based on a summary of the legislation, the Ban Surprise Billing Act relies on a median in-network rate to resolve out-of-network payments. The legislation would require out-of-network providers to accept the median in-network rate unless the amount paid was above $750 and only then could the payment be disputed through an independent dispute resolution process to determine the final payment.

KHA and member hospitals are opposed to payment at the median in-network rate. While it is understandable that insurers may initially pay this amount to comply with prompt pay laws, out-of-network providers should be given the ability to dispute this payment. KHA supports legislation which would set out a period under which the out-of-network...

Congressional leaders reached a $1.37 trillion spending agreement yesterday, which would repeal several ACA taxes (e.g, Cadillac tax, health insurer tax and medical device tax), delay payment cuts to disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) until May 22, 2020, and fund gun violence research.

While Congress was negotiating the agreement, KHA contacted the Kentucky congressional delegation to once again urge them to delay Medicaid DSH cuts for a full year. The messaging included the KHA Medicaid DSH issue paper. This paper and others are available for your use when discussing issues with your legislators at www.kyha.com/policy.

Congress is expected to pass the legislation this week, ahead of the December 20 government shutdown deadline, and send it to President...

Earlier today, KHA submitted comments to the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce regarding the No Surprises Act, legislation focused on ending surprise billing.

While applauding and supporting the legislators' plans to protect patients, KHA detailed the ways the proposed legislation could affect Kentucky's hospitals including imposing arbitrary rates on providers and creating unfunded mandates on hospitals.

To see a full copy of KHA's comments, members can visit the Policy page of www.kyha.com.

If you have any questions, please contact Nancy Galvagni at KHA (ngalvagni@kyha.com).