Site-neutral payments would slash hospital funds by $182B

Expanding site-neutral payments could cut Medicare reimbursement to hospitals by an estimated $182 billion over a decade, putting nearly 1,200 hospitals at financial risk. This policy, which aligns outpatient care reimbursement with ambulatory prices, threatens access to care, especially in rural areas and for services like maternity and emergency care. Hospitals, already operating on thin margins due to workforce challenges and rising costs, argue that such cuts ignore the complexity of care provided in hospital outpatient departments.