American Hospital Association suggests an end to physician self-referral
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
April 23, 2008
On April 18, the American Hospital Association (AHA) asked Congress to ban any physician self-referral to any new physician-owned hospitals. The reason behind this request is that physician-owned hospitals do not treat as many poor, sick patients, and they do not deliver higher quality of care for a lower cost. In addition, there is a higher rate of utilization when a physician-owned hospital enters a community.
The AHA states that if physician self-referral to new physician-owned facilities were to cease, $2.4 billion in Medicare payments would be saved within 10 years.
To read the letter, click here.
