ASHP Urges Senate Leaders to Reject Site-Neutral Proposals

Today, ASHP, along with more than 70 state affiliates and hospitals and health systems, wrote Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to oppose site neutrality proposals pending in Congress.

Such proposals would reduce reimbursements to hospital outpatient departments for administering medications to patients. Site-neutral proposals pay hospitals at the same level as physician offices and free-standing facilities — even though hospitals must meet much more extensive patient-safety requirements.

“We ask that you oppose this legislation, and its inclusion in any legislative package, because it fails to take into account the costs of safely providing medication administration services to the complex patients hospitals serve,” says the Oct. 6 letter to Schumer and McConnell.

Contact your members of Congress to let them know that site neutrality hurts patients.