Doctor-owned hospitals that have been stuck in limbo got a bit of good news yesterday when the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would remove provisions from 2010's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The healthcare reform law effectively signed a death sentence for physician-owned facilities by forbidding those in development from completing construction and those in operation from expanding.
HR 3630, the "Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act," now moves to the Senate. If approved, it would loosen the restrictions on:
the 25 to 30 hospitals that were under construction at the end of 2010 and missed healthcare reform's arbitrary deadline for completion.
the 265 physician_owned hospitals in 33 states that healthcare reform has prohibited from expanding.
"No one who is serious about healthcare can oppose this provision," says Physician Hospitals of America president Michael Russell, MD, in a statement. "Medicare and Medicaid patients deserve access to the nation's highest performing hospitals."
Dan O'Connor
