Ways and Means Committee Reports on Efforts to Reduce Medicare Burdens

The US House Ways and Means Committee recently released a report reviewing the committee’s year-long initiative to reduce legislative and regulatory burdens on Medicare providers and potential next steps. According to the report, the committee is sending letters to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services acknowledging the administration’s efforts to reduce burdens in the inpatient prospective payment system final rule and other areas and asking the agency to take additional action. Hospitals, health systems and post-acute care providers spend nearly $39 billion a year on administrative activities related to regulatory compliance, according to a study released last October by the American Hospital Association and cited in the report.