/ en Fri, 25 Apr 2025 22:49:33 -0500 Thu, 30 Jan 25 13:22:23 -0600 <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><p>The White House Office of Management and Budget Jan. 29 rescinded a <a href="https://sponsors.aha.org/rs/710-ZLL-651/images/01282025_omb-memo-on-federal-aid-freeze.pdf?version=0)" target="_blank">memo</a> it issued two days earlier directing federal agencies to temporarily pause federal grants, loans and other financial assistance programs implicated by President Trump’s recent executive orders. </p><p>Following the rescission of the memo, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “This is NOT a recission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a recission of the OMB memo…the President’s EO’s on federal funding remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented.” </p><p>It is AHA’s understanding, this is in reference to <a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Ffact-sheets%2F2025%2F01%2Fomb-q-a-regarding-memorandum-m-25-13%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cpdavis%40aha.org%7C9958015c50be43f30a0c08dd415452b0%7Cb9119340beb74e5e84b23cc18f7b36a6%7C0%7C0%7C638738552615932047%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Lr6dkoes87cT6QSuYqlKFJWSe7afznur9Td6YPnnnG4%3D&reserved=0">seven EOs</a> the administration released, many of which included their own separate funding reviews within them. </p><p>The Jan. 27 OMB memo that has been rescinded directed federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”   </p><p>The pause was not going to affect Social Security, Medicare benefits, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/omb-q-a-regarding-memorandum-m-25-13/">Medicaid</a> or “assistance provided directly to individuals.” </p><p>A federal judge in Washington, D.C. had temporarily halted the pause shortly before it was set to take effect on Jan. 28 at 5 p.m. </p><p>In a separate court case brought by some Democratic attorneys general, U.S. District Judge Jack McConnell said Jan. 29 that even though the OMB memo had been rescinded he was considering blocking the freeze, according to reports. “I fear … that the administration is acting with a distinction without a difference.” </p><p>The AHA will continue to monitor as this issue continues to develop. </p><h2>ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON EXECUTIVE ACTIONS </h2><p>The Trump administration during its first two weeks has issued an unprecedented series of executive orders and administrative actions that reinforce the administration’s priorities. The AHA has compiled a <a href="/system/files/media/file/2025/01/2025-New-Executive-Orders-20250127.pdf">tracker of the actions</a> the administration has taken, including a number that have been released during the past that may be of interest to hospitals and health systems. The tracker will be updated regularly as new actions are released. </p><h2>FURTHER QUESTIONS </h2><p>If you have further questions, please contact the AHA at 800-424-4301. </p></div><div class="col-md-4"><a href="/system/files/media/file/2025/01/administration-rescinds-memo-pausing-federal-grants-loans-and-other-financial-assistance-programs-advisory-1-30-2025.pdf"><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/cover-administration-rescinds-memo-pausing-federal-grants-loans-and-other-financial-assistance-programs-advisory-1-30-2025.png" data-entity-uuid="40ec830c-e830-4e00-bbb8-a03ef47423fb" data-entity-type="file" alt="Member Advisory Cover Image" width="679" height="878"></a></div></div></div> Thu, 30 Jan 2025 13:22:23 -0600 Financial Assistance /news/headline/2025-01-28-white-house-pauses-federal-grants-other-programs-implicated-executive-orders-omb-says-medicare-and <p>The White House Office of Management and Budget late Jan. 27 <a href="https://sponsors.aha.org/rs/710-ZLL-651/images/01282025_omb-memo-on-federal-aid-freeze.pdf?version=0)">issued a memo</a> directing federal agencies to temporarily pause federal grants, loans and other financial assistance programs implicated by President Trump’s recent executive orders. </p><p>“Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,” according to the memo. The temporary pause was to take effect Jan. 28 at 5 p.m. ET.</p><p>A federal judge shortly before then temporarily halted the freeze from taking effect. </p><p>The pause will not affect Social Security or Medicare benefits, nor does it include “assistance provided directly to individuals,” according to the memo. In a guidance document <a href="https://sponsors.aha.org/rs/710-ZLL-651/images/01282025_FILE_0661.pdf?version=0">released Jan. 28 by OMB</a>, the agency said that mandatory programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program “will continue without pause.” </p><p>The memo calls on agencies to submit to OMB “detailed information on any programs, projects or activities subject to this pause” by Feb. 10.</p><p>In its first week, the Trump administration has issued an unprecedented series of executive orders and administrative actions that reinforce the administration’s priorities. </p> Tue, 28 Jan 2025 15:59:06 -0600 Financial Assistance /lettercomment/2024-11-11-aha-comments-cms-financial-assistance-program-navigators <p>November 11, 2024</p><p>The Honorable Chiquita Brooks-LaSure<br>Administrator<br>Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services<br>Hubert H. Humphrey Building<br>200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 445-G<br>Washington, DC 20201</p><p><em><strong>RE: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2026; and Basic Health Program (CMS-9888-P)</strong></em></p><p>Dear Administrator Brooks-LaSure:</p><p>On behalf of the ���������� Association’s (AHA) nearly 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, including approximately 90 that offer health plans, and our clinician partners — including more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers — and the 43,000 health care leaders who belong to our professional membership groups, we thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) request for comment on how navigators and non-navigator assistance personnel working within hospitals and health systems may help consumers access financial assistance programs to help pay for health care services.</p><p><strong>The AHA supports having navigators and other assisters work with their hospitals and health systems to help connect consumers to available financial assistance resources. </strong>America’s hospitals and health systems provide care to their community 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They are committed to providing quality and safe care to all individuals and delivering a care experience that meets patients’ needs and expectations from appointment scheduling through payment for care provided. Hospitals and health systems welcome the opportunity to partner with assisters, who are already key resources for consumers navigating the complex health care system, to ensure all patients understand and are accessing available financial assistance.</p><p>While health insurance is intended to be the primary mechanism to protect patients from unexpected and unaffordable health care costs, coverage is falling short for too many. Inadequate health care coverage, including through plans with high out-of-pocket costs that intentionally push more costs onto patients, leaves many Americans financially vulnerable when seeking medical care. As a result, a growing number of patients, even those insured, find they cannot pay for some or all their health care costs.</p><p>Hospitals and health systems’ financial assistance policies help patients who cannot afford care by providing discounts based on the patient’s income or other factors, such as the amount of the patient’s bill. Through our <a href="/patient-billing-guidelines-affirmation" target="_blank">voluntary patient billing guidelines</a>, the AHA encourages our members to provide free care for patients with income below 200% of the federal poverty limit. To the extent they can, many hospitals have chosen to implement even more generous policies.</p><p>Many hospitals <a href="https://unduemedicaldebt.org/navigating-the-maze-of-health-care-finances-a-revenue-cycle-perspective/">report</a>, however, that patients are hesitant to pursue financial assistance either because they believe they will not qualify or are apprehensive about providing the information required to complete the application. Other hospitals report difficulties connecting with patients who may be eligible for financial assistance following care, requiring them to reach out several times, often without success. This results in eligible patients not receiving financial assistance and adds an administrative burden to an already strained health care workforce.</p><p>Moreover, financial assistance programs were originally designed to support <em>uninsured</em> patients, not insured patients who need help closing coverage gaps. Financial assistance is not an adequate response to health plans that feature unaffordable cost-sharing requirements under the guise of being “consumer-driven.”</p><p>Hospitals and health systems welcome help from navigators and other assisters to educate patients about and access the financial resources available to them. Navigators are already trusted community resources for navigating health insurance coverage and would be a great asset in helping to reach patients who are otherwise not accessing available financial assistance. We also encourage navigators and assisters to expand their enrollment counseling to help patients enroll in plans with affordable deductible and cost-sharing requirements based on the patient’s financial resources. </p><p>We appreciate CMS exploring how to expand the responsibilities of navigators and non-navigator assistance personnel to include helping patients access available financial assistance. Please contact me if you have questions, or feel free to have a member of your team contact Ariel Levin, AHA’s director of coverage policy, at 202-626-2335 or <a href="mailto:alevin@aha.org">alevin@aha.org</a>.</p><p>Sincerely,</p><p>/s/</p><p>Ashley Thompson<br>Senior Vice President<br>Public Policy</p> Mon, 11 Nov 2024 14:36:49 -0600 Financial Assistance /news/headline/2024-06-11-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-releases-proposed-rule-removing-medical-bills-credit-reports <p>The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau June 11 released a <a href="https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_fcra-med-debt-proposed-rule_2024-06.pdf">proposed rule</a> that would remove medical bills from credit reports. The rule would prohibit credit reporting companies from sharing medical debts with lenders and prevent lenders from making borrowing decisions based on medical information. <br><br>The AHA submitted <a href="/lettercomment/2023-10-31-aha-letter-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-consumer-reporting-rulemaking-and-medical-debt">comments</a> to CFPB in October when the proposals were under consideration, as well as the CFPB, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Department of the Treasury in September <a href="/lettercomment/2023-09-11-aha-comments-request-information-regarding-medical-payment-products">responding</a> to a request for information about certain financial products patients may use to pay for medical care. The AHA highlighted hospital efforts to ensure fair and patient-friendly billing practices, expressed concern regarding potentially predatory actions by certain lenders, and urged the agencies to tackle the root causes of medical debt, specifically, failures of health plans to provide meaningful, affordable coverage. </p> Tue, 11 Jun 2024 15:38:14 -0500 Financial Assistance /news/blog/2023-11-30-article-misleads-hospitals-charity-care-spending <p>A recent <a href="https://www.modernhealthcare.com/providers/nonprofit-hospital-charity-care-spending-2020-2022" target="_blank"><em>Modern Healthcare</em> article</a> misleadingly suggests that hospitals and health systems provided less charity care between 2020 and 2023. The truth is much different. In fact, the author’s own data tells a very different story, and it is important to set the record straight.</p> <p><strong>In reality, hospitals’ overall charity care <em>increased</em> over the last three years.</strong> According to the data cited in the article from Merritt Research Services, median charity care spending for all hospitals grew by 13% between 2021 and 2022 alone.</p> <p><strong>Hospitals’ expenses also increased during this period — at a far greater pace.</strong> The AHA has documented — <a href="/costsofcaring">again</a> and <a href="/guidesreports/2023-04-20-2022-costs-caring">again</a> — how operating expenses have skyrocketed. Costs grew 17.5% between 2020 and 2022, driven by increases in labor expenses, drug costs, and spending on medical supplies and equipment. These expenses created historic financial headwinds, with record numbers of hospitals incurring negative operating margins. This massive growth in expenses has pushed many hospitals and health systems to the brink.</p> <p>These twin realities contradict the article’s disingenuous headline, as well as its lead quotation from a professor whose research agenda has been funded by an anti-hospital dark money organization. <strong>Put simply, <em>Modern Healthcare</em> is able to break the entirely unremarkable news of a “proportional” decrease in the ratio of charity care and hospital expenses <u>only because</u> hospital expenses grew so precipitously.</strong></p> <p>It’s basic math: When the denominator (expenses) increases as much as it has over the past three years, but the numerator (charity care) does not increase as much, then of course the overall proportion will look different. But rather than reporting that “news,” and rather than reporting the truly newsworthy fact that hospitals provided increasing levels of financial assistance despite facing historic growth in expenses, <em>Modern Healthcare</em> misleads readers into thinking that hospitals were not adequately providing care to the patients and communities they serve.</p> <p>That journalistic defect alone would be enough to undermine <em>Modern Healthcare</em>’s misleading thesis. But its math is doubly flawed because the author leaves out many of the total benefits that hospitals and health systems provide to their communities. Put another way, by erroneously focusing on just one metric of how hospitals support their communities (charity care), the numerator is actually far smaller than reality reflects.</p> <p>For example, benefits to communities include things like financial assistance for patients, other community programs to advance health and wellness, and perhaps most important, significant Medicaid and Medicare underpayments (i.e., the difference between what those programs pay for care and what it costs to provide care and treatment to Medicare and Medicaid patients). And according to a recent AHA study, <a href="/system/files/media/file/2023/10/Results-from-2020-Tax-Exempt-Hospitals-Schedule-H-Community-Benefit-Reports.pdf">total hospital benefits to communities</a> were $130 billion in 2020 alone (the most recent year for which comprehensive data is available). This was a nearly $20 billion <em>increase</em> from 2019.</p> <p><strong>It is reckless and wrong to allege that hospitals are somehow deliberately “squeez(ing) their charity care spending to maintain financial viability” without presenting any evidence to back up this outrageous assertion. It is equally wrong for <em>Modern Healthcare</em> to offer that quote without reporting that the speaker is funded by Arnold Ventures — a shadowy organization with an obvious bias against hospitals.</strong></p> <p><strong>The truth is that hospitals have been rocked by wave after wave of external financial challenges over the last three years, but that has not stopped them from providing critical care to the most vulnerable and needy patients and communities. This is the important news that <em>Modern Healthcare</em> should be reporting.</strong></p> Thu, 30 Nov 2023 09:31:08 -0600 Financial Assistance /news/headline/2023-05-09-aha-urges-congress-support-health-care-programs-fy-2024-appropriations <p>AHA urged leaders of the <a href="/lettercomment/2023-05-09-aha-letter-house-leadership-regarding-funding-health-care-programs-fiscal-year-2024">House</a> and <a href="/lettercomment/2023-05-09-aha-letter-senate-leadership-regarding-funding-health-care-programs-fiscal-year-2024">Senate</a> Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education to give favorable funding consideration in fiscal year 2024 to health care programs shown to improve access to quality health care for patients and communities.</p> <p>AHA requests funding for programs to increase, diversify and promote resilience in the health care workforce; help children’s hospitals train resident physicians; retain needed health care services in rural communities; help hospitals prepare for and respond to emergencies; address the social determinants of health; improve maternal and child health; strengthen substance use and mental health services; eliminate health disparities and promote health equity.<br />  </p> Tue, 09 May 2023 16:02:00 -0500 Financial Assistance /news/headline/2022-08-30-op-ed-facing-unprecedented-challenges-americas-hospitals-and-health <p>In an op-ed <a href="https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals/industry-voices-facing-unprecedented-challenges-americas-hospitals-and-health-systems" target="_blank">piece</a> for Fierce Healthcare this past weekend, Stacey Hughes, AHA’s executive vice president for government relations and public policy, urged Congress to step up to the plate and support hospitals amid unprecedented fiscal challenges, including escalating costs and workforce issues, each compounded by inflation and the COVID-19 public health emergency. “Any one of these challenges is alarming on its own,” wrote Hughes. “But all of them occurring at once — in tandem with the highest inflation rate in nearly half a century — is a real crisis.”</p> Tue, 30 Aug 2022 14:52:59 -0500 Financial Assistance /news/headline/2022-08-02-cms-releases-guidance-optional-medicaid-home-health-benefit-children <p>The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday <a href="https://www.medicaid.gov/federal-policy-guidance/downloads/smd22004.pdf">released guidance</a> on an optional home health services benefit for Medicaid-eligible children with medically complex conditions effective Oct. 1 under the Medicaid Services Investment and Accountability Act of 2019. Section 1945A of the Act gives states the option to cover care coordination, care management, and patient and family support services for these children. States with approved Medicaid state plan amendments to cover the benefit will receive a temporary 15-percentage-point increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage for these services. </p> Tue, 02 Aug 2022 16:05:00 -0500 Financial Assistance /news/headline/2022-06-06-study-hospital-community-benefits-far-exceed-federal-tax-exemption <p>Tax-exempt hospitals and health systems provided over $110 billion in community benefits in fiscal year 2019, almost nine times the value of their federal tax exemption, according to an <a href="/system/files/media/file/2022/06/E%26Y-Benefit-of-of-Tax-Exemption-Report-FY2019-FINAL-with-links.pdf">analysis</a> by Ernst & Young released today by the AHA. A separate <a href="/system/files/media/file/2022/06/aha-2019-schedule-h-reporting.pdf">analysis</a> by the AHA shows that tax-exempt hospitals and health systems provided total community benefits equal to 13.9% of their expenses, with over half of these benefits going to provide financial assistance to patients and absorb losses due to underpayments from Medicaid and other means-tested government programs. </p> <p>“For the past two and a half years, our nation has seen firsthand how America’s hospitals and health systems have cared for their patients and provided essential services to their communities in times of an unprecedented public health crisis,” <a href="/press-releases/2022-06-06-new-ey-analysis-tax-exempt-hospitals-community-benefits-nine-times">said</a> AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “In addition to providing critical care, hospitals and health systems of all sizes, types and locations deliver a wide range of tailored benefits, activities, services, programs and research to meet the varied health needs of those they serve. Today’s analysis shows that advancing health in their communities remains the North Star for America’s hospitals and health systems.”  </p> <p>Learn more about how hospitals benefit their communities <a href="/community-benefit">here</a>. <span></span></p> Mon, 06 Jun 2022 15:07:26 -0500 Financial Assistance /news/headline/2021-10-15-hrsa-award-100-million-primary-care-loan-repayment-program <p>States and territories can apply through April 8, 2022, for a portion of $100 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to help repay educational loans for primary care clinicians in exchange for service in underserved communities, the Health Resources and Services Administration announced <a href="https://www.hrsa.gov/grants/find-funding/hrsa-22-048">yesterday</a>. The funding represents a five-fold increase in funding to HRSA’s <a href="https://nhsc.hrsa.gov/loan-repayment/state-loan-repayment-program/application-requirements">State Loan Repayment Program</a>. The agency expects to make up to 50 awards of up to $1 million per year over the four-year project period. Awards will be announced prior to the project start date of Sept. 1, 2022.</p> <p>“With these funds, states can design programs that optimize the selection of disciplines and service locations, and tailor the length of service commitments to address the areas of greatest need in their communities,” <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/10/14/hhs-announces-availability-100-million-state-loan-repayment-funding-to-support-health-workforce.html">said</a> Acting HRSA Administrator Diana Espinosa. “This investment will make a tremendous impact on access to primary care and addressing health disparities at a critical time.”</p> <p> </p> Fri, 15 Oct 2021 14:24:47 -0500 Financial Assistance