This week, I introduced the Establishing Beneficiary Equity in the Hospital Readmission Program Act with my colleague, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY). This bipartisan, commonsense legislation protects America’s most vulnerable patients by leveling the playing field for America’s hospitals through an adjustment to the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP).

The HRRP was created under the president’s health care law to reduce acute care hospital readmissions. It requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to penalize hospitals based on the last three years of a hospital’s readmission data compared to the national average. While well-intentioned, HRRP does not account for socio-economic factors that often have an equally substantial impact on readmission rates. Therefore, it disproportionately penalizes hospitals throughout the country that treat our nation’s most disadvantaged population.

Our country’s poorest populations have fewer community resources available to prevent readmissions, such as access to primary care, mental health services, rehabilitative care, and their prescribed medications and food. Therefore, hospitals caring for these patients are not only more likely to incur a penalty, they are more likely to face the maximum penalty under the program.

As a former businessman with a long record of experience in the health care industry, it’s clear that the HRRP unfairly penalizes safety-net and teaching hospitals – taking valuable resources from those who are in need of them most. There is no question that this money could be better spent helping patients avoid rehospitalization. Our bill reflects that.

Specifically, the Establishing Beneficiary Equity in the Hospital Readmission Program Act requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to adjust the readmission penalty based on a hospital’s share of dual eligible patients, low-income seniors, or young people with a disability who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. It also requires CMS to exclude certain categories of patients whose frequent hospitalizations are often clinically necessary or can be attributed to outside factors or the patient’s refusal to comply with their physician recommended medical treatment.

The legislation is supported by several hospitals and organizations in Ohio and around the country including the Cleveland Clinic, Akron General, MetroHealth, Summa Health, University Hospitals, Aultman Health Foundation, American Hospital Association, Ohio Hospital Association, and the Association of American Medical Colleges.

It’s critical that the HRRP’s misguided penalty structure is addressed so that our nation’s most vulnerable patients are no longer in jeopardy. The Establishing Beneficiary Equity in the Hospital Readmission Program would do just that, and I look forward to seeing it move swiftly through the legislative process.

If you need any additional information, please visit my website at renacci.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-3876, Wadsworth office: (330) 334-0040, or Parma office: (440) 882-6779. I also encourage you to subscribe to my Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages to get updates on my work in Washington and the 16th District.