Chuck Grassley: “Hospitals in Iowa are already concerned about payment levels compared to more urban states. It is not acceptable to me…”

“Hospitals in Iowa are already concerned about payment levels compared to more urban states. It is not acceptable to me to lower payments to them for the benefit of hospitals in other states that are already much higher paid. One approach we should consider for rifleshots is to require budget neutrality to be applied only to hospitals in the area into which the county is reclassified, or perhaps to all hospitals in that state. In other words, if hospitals in certain New York counties want to be reclassified into New York City, then the budget neutrality payment reductions could be applied to New York City hospitals, or to all hospitals in New York State, rather than to the rest of the country. That might help bring some discipline to this issue.”