Are more physician-owned hospitals on the horizon? Legislation introduced to lift the ban

The ACA put a moratorium on new physician-owned hospitals, but with the repeal in sight and an administration bent on easing regulations, new POHs may be on the horizon.

A new column in The Hill authored by R. Blake Curd, MD, outlines how lifting the moratorium could increase competition and drive higher quality procedures at a lower cost. Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, introduced the "Patient Access to Higher Quality Health Care Act of 2017" which would repeal the moratorium on physician-owned hospitals. POHs are among the top performers of all hospitals nationwide; 38 of the 57 hospitals that received a CMS five-star rating included physician ownership.

Dr. Curd is President of Physician Hospitals of America and CEO of Sioux Falls (S.D.) Specialty Hospital, a physician-owned hospital that has received among the highest quality ratings in the state. He pointed out that in the fiscal year 2017 value based programs from CMS, seven of the top 10 and 40 of the top 100 hospitals are physician-owned.

He also pointed to an Avalon Health Economics report showing POHs saved Medicare $3.2 billion over 10 years.

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