[Sen.] Harkin: Rural Seniors Need Equal Access to Healthcare

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Pat Roberts (R-KS) today introduced bipartisan legislation to increase Medicare reimbursement to hospitals, doctors, and ambulance services in rural areas. The Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Act of 2007 (R-HoPE) – named in honor of the recently deceased Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY) – will continue efforts by Harkin to improve Iowa’s Medicare reimbursements. In recent years, low Medicare reimbursement has threatened the financial health of hospitals, recruitment and retention of physicians, and the viability of home health and ambulance services.

“This is an important first step towards equalizing Medicare reimbursement between rural and urban areas,” said Harkin. “Iowa’s hospitals, physicians, ambulance companies, and home health agencies are all at a disadvantage compared to the same providers in other parts of the country. This bill will help eliminate these inequities so that our Medicare patients will have access to the best services regardless of where they live.”

Specifically, the bill will do the following:

Increase payments to hospitals with a disproportionate share of Medicare and Medicaid patients as a percentage of their total discharges.

Increase payments to rural hospitals that have a low volume of discharges.

Improve payments for lab services in small, Critical Access Hospitals.

Create a loan program for capital improvements for rural hospitals so they could build new buildings, remodel facilities, and add services.

Extend a 10 percent bonus payment to physicians who practice in a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). Extend an expiring policy that equalizes specific payments for rural physicians for the work they perform. Extend a five percent bonus for rural home health agencies. Improve payments for rural ground ambulance services.

“As Co-Chair of the Senate Rural Health Caucus, I understand the unique challenges facing Medicare providers in rural states. We have a higher proportion of elderly Americans as a percentage of the population, and our reimbursements do not reflect the costs of providing health care for them,” said Harkin.

Harkin is the Co-Chair of the Rural Health Caucus in the Senate; a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; and the Chairman of the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Sub-Committee, the panel that funds health care programs.