Health Policy Essentials America's Essential Hospitals

Essential hospitals operate large ambulatory networks to bring care to people where they live and work. These clinics often are the only source of primary and specialty care for underserved people. This reach into communities is key to ensuring continuity of care for patients who face health risks due to lack of transportation, housing insecurity, and other social factors. But so-called “site-neutral” payment policies threaten that care by making clinic expansion financially unsustainable.

Various classifications for hospitals exist; however, essential hospitals, often those serving a safety net role, do not have a federal definition. These hospitals care for an underserved patient population and facilitate access to quality health care for all in our country. Various stakeholders see an acute need for such a definition to help decision-makers navigate the complex hospital landscape. In this episode, three health policy experts will describe the need for and momentum behind a federal designation for essential hospitals. Learn more at essentialhospitals.org.

Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government and act on other urgent matters — none more important to the safety net than stopping an $8 billion cut to Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments. The cut — two-thirds of all federal DSH dollars — would jeopardize access to care for low-income patients and destabilize essential hospitals, key safety net providers. In this episode, three experts on these hospitals and Medicaid will describe the potential impact of DSH cuts and bipartisan support in Congress to avert this looming threat. Learn more at https://protectmedicaid.org/.