Last week, both houses of Congress sent letters to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) advocating against a policy that would slash teaching hospitals’ Medicare capital payments by phasing out the indirect medical education (IME) adjustment. The House letter, spearheaded by Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA) and longtime teaching hospital advocate Rep. Peter King (R-NY), was signed by 210 House lawmakers, including more than 40 Republicans. The Senate letter, championed by New York Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, with Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania serving as the Republican lead, had 51 signatures, including 11 Republicans. 
     
GNYHA worked with the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Hospital Association to draft the aforementioned letters and to gain the groundswell of support reflected by the number of signatories. As previously noted, Ways & Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY), working with GNYHA, sent in his own letter on capital IME payments last month as part of the FY 2009 proposed inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) regulation comment period. Hence, every member of the New York delegation has officially weighed in with the Administration on this important issue.
     
Over the past few months, GNYHA has met with key Congressional leaders, Committee staff, and Democratic leadership staff on Capitol Hill urging a legislative resolution to the capital IME cut and has encouraged heavily impacted institutions across the country to weigh in directly with their legislators. In addition, the GNYHA/1199 SEIU Healthcare Education Project placed a full-page ad in the New York Times on August 4 and Washington Post on August 5. The ad will also run in upcoming issues of Time, Newsweek, Roll Call, The Hill, and National Journal.
     
Despite clear Congressional intent expressed in these letters, CMS did not remove this harmful policy from the final FY 2009 IPPS regulation, which went on display on July 31. GNYHA will continue to work with national and State partners to press for statutory relief in the form of a moratorium to be added as an amendment to an appropriate legislative vehicle moving through Congress this fall.