Bills Address EHR Payments for Multi-Campus Hospitals

A second federal bill seeks to "clarify the application of EHR payment incentives" for multi-campus hospitals in the meaningful use subsidy requirements issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced S. 3708, the Electronic Health Record Incentives for Multi-campus Hospitals Act, late last week. The bill would amend the Social Security Act to "clarify the application of EHR payment incentives" for multi-campus hospitals.

Schumer's bill follows on the heels a week earlier of the similar bill introduced in the House by House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark (D-CA), Rep. Zack Space (D-OH), Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone  (D-NJ), and Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX).

Both bills would eliminate the provision in the meaningful-use subsidy requirements issued by the Centers for Medicare &; Medicaid Services. This provision treats multi-campus hospitals as a single unit, thereby capping the subsidy it can receive without recognizing the "incremental acquisition, training, and implementation costs" they incur, as the House bill states.