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The AHA and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Nov. 14 urged House and Senate leaders to oppose any policies that fail to take into account the costs of safely providing drug administration services to the complex patients that hospitals serve.  
  
“Proposals to reduce reimbursements for drug administration services in hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) inappropriately equate care provided in these hospital clinics with less complex care provided at freestanding physician offices,” they wrote. “The care is not equivalent, and current payment rates take into account these important differences. … We are concerned that these proposed policies will force hospitals and pharmacists to scale back some of the critical services they are able to provide to their patients. Given that Medicare beneficiaries who seek care in HOPDs are more likely to be sicker and more medically complex than those treated at independent physicians’ offices, this may result in reduced access to care for some of our most medically vulnerable patients.”