We urge Congress to protect access to care for the most vulnerable communities and not enact further hospital site-neutral payment proposals, which would disproportionately and negatively impact essential hospitals.

Unless Congress acts, $32 billion in DSH cuts over the next four years will undermine essential hospitals and could push some to the brink. The scheduled DSH cuts include an $8 billion reduction on October 1, 2023 — more than two-thirds of all federal DSH spending annually.

Our proposal would codify a designation of essential hospitals in statute, allowing lawmakers to better target support to improve access to care and public health.

The 340B program continues to work as Congress intended. America’s Essential Hospitals urges Congress and the administration to protect the 340B program and ensure all stakeholders comply with the law.

Hospitals that fill a safety net role need targeted funding to remain on the front lines of public health emergencies and serve the nation’s most underrepresented patients and marginalized communities.

The United States faces a significant and pervasive health care workforce shortage, especially in underserved communities. As policymakers discuss how to address current and future workforce shortages, we urge Congress to expand, protect and fund the health care workforce.

As Congress continues to consider legislation during and after the pandemic, it should make permanent policies that allow providers to expand access to care, including telehealth and hospital-at-home, to improve the health of their communities.

Although cases are declining nationwide, safety net hospitals have not recuperated from the effects of the pandemic on their finances and still need additional resources.

Ensuring a reliable safety net, one ready to meet the moment in any crisis, means robustly protecting and bolstering the mechanisms and ideals that make the safety net function.

Cutting the DSH program — especially with hospitals still on the front lines of COVID-19 — is misguided. Our latest Our View dispels common misconceptions about these proposed DSH cuts.

Essential hospitals rely heavily on a patchwork of federal financial support and resources to meet their mission. Congress must bolster the individual components that form the fabric of the health care safety net.

Essential hospitals lead the nation in the battle against COVID-19 but new challenges—including COVID variants, vaccination distribution management, and long-term hospitalizations—show more help is needed to ensure providers on the front lines can maintain access to care.

Essential hospitals tackle social determinants of health while operating with limited means. Congress must act to preserve the federal support essential hospitals rely on to fulfill their mission of care for all and keep communities healthy.

House and Senate members on both sides of the aisle say they intend to examine the practice of balance billing, which media have characterized as “surprise bills” in recent reports.