AHA: ban self-referrals to specialty hospitals.(Practice Trends)

The American Hospital Association is calling on Congress to permanently ban the practice of self-referral of patients to new physician-owned specialty hospitals.

Congress placed an 18-month moratorium on the construction of new physician-owned specialty hospitals under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. The moratorium is set to expire in June.

In a new report, the American Hospital Association (AHA) contends that physician-owned specialty hospitals have led to increased costs and the increased use of health care services, forced cutbacks in other services at full-service hospitals, and placed access to emergency and trauma services at risk.

"This practice strips full-service hospitals of critical resources needed to provide a full array of services that the community expects," George Lynn, chairman of AHA's Board of Trustees and president of AtlantiCare in Atlantic City, N.J., said at a press conference.

AHA examined the impact of specialty hospitals on patients, communities, and full-service hospitals in Lincoln, Neb.; Oklahoma City; Wichita, Kan.; and the Black Hills region of South Dakota.

When these hospitals entered a community, access to emergency and trauma care was put at risk, the report found. And full-service community hospitals made cuts in areas such as ...