Senator Roberts questions Secretary Sebelius about cuts to CAHs
At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the President's budget request for federal fiscal year 2014 yesterday, Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) asked Secretary Sebelius about the repeated calls from the administration to strip some facilities of their Critical Access Hospital (CAH) status and lower reimbursement rates for all CAH facilities. Specifically, the budget calls for decreasing payments to CAHs from 101% of reasonable costs to 100% of reasonable costs. Furthermore, the President proposes to eliminate CAH status for facilities 10 miles away, or less, from another facility. Secretary Sebelius said that she "shared (the Senator's) concerns about the importance of Critical Access Hospitals" and promised to follow-up with the Senator's office about his concerns with the cuts. NRHA applauds Senator Roberts for his continued work to protect and strengthen the Critical Access Hospital system. For a full copy of the President's budget, click here. To watch the Senate hearing and Senator Roberts' question, click here.