Physician Hospitals of America is pushing back against alleged "incorrect assumption and innuendo" contained in a new Time magazine article about the impact a proposed healthcare reform bill could have on physician-owned hospitals.
In a press release, the trade organization for physician-owned hospitals objects to the Time reporters’ characterization of those facilities as specialty-focused centers that cause financial harm to general hospitals, lead to overutilization and can’t adequately respond to emergency situations.
"Currently, there are over 220 physician-owned hospitals in 33 states and only 32 are ‘single specialty hospitals’, such as those referred to in the Time article," says PHA Executive Director Molly Sandvig. "The remainder include 18 general acute care facilities, 153 multispecialty facilities," including surgical hospitals, "and 19 rehabilitation/long term care hospitals."
The article, "How Health-Care Reform Could Hurt Doctor-Owned Hospitals," notes that a House of Representatives draft of health reform legislation would ban new physician-owned hospitals and prohibit the expansion of existing ones. "Many highly rated hospitals, including those that provide care to medically under-served communities, would have no choice but to close or stop taking Medicare patients if the ban on physician ownership becomes law," says Ms. Sandvig.
The Time article concedes that "there is not ample hard data yet available to prove that specialty hospitals take a large bite out of community hospitals’ bottom lines," but still asserts that "a quick scan of the list of the common procedures performed at the highly focused institutions suggests just that." In response to that charge, PHA cites studies by the Government Accountability Office, MedPAC, CMS and the Center for Studying Health System Change that have shown "general hospitals are largely unaffected by competition from physician-owned hospitals."
—Irene Tsikitas
