Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements could be casualties in a budget compromise that legislators are trying to negotiate, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) told those attending the U.S. News and World Report Hospital of Tomorrow conference.
Stabenow, ranking member of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care, was part of an Oct. 20 panel discussion, “The Future of Value-Driven Health Care: A Congressional Perspective,” with U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), who is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Labor, Education and Pensions, and Patrick Pilch, who is the managing director and national healthcare advisory practice leader for consulting firm BDO.
The government should follow an approach similar to the one made possible by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, which helped ensure that budget cuts weren’t arbitrary and “across-the-board,” she said. Any reimbursement reductions to providers, Stabenow said, should come as part of the transition to value-based care, not as part of efforts to fund unrelated projects.
