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"As we work to improve the healthcare system, it is bad policy to take away patients' healthcare choices by banning specialty hospitals -- especially under cover of the farm bill," says William G. Plested III, MD, the immediate past-president of the American Medical Association. "This is a sneak attack by general hospitals attempting to eliminate competition, and it is wrong to insert unrelated healthcare provisions into the farm bill that were not part of the House and Senate floor action."

Senators working on the farm bill who are also opposed to physician-owned hospitals are trying to justify their actions by saying they want to use savings identified by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to offset the costs of new farm programs.

"We dispute the CBO conclusions," says Molly Sandvig, JD, executive director of Physician Hospitals of America. "These so-called savings are being used as an excuse to attack physicians. But even if the CBO estimate were accurate, using federal money dedicated to providing healthcare services for Medicare beneficiaries to support farm programs is outrageous. Americans work hard to pay into Medicare to support their hospital services. Those tax dollars should not wind up in the farm program."

Both the PHA and AMA point out that information being distributed by various anti-physician hospital industry groups may be less than accurate. In fact, on April 1 the OIG sent a letter to various hospital associations chastising them for inappropriate use of the recent OIG study of Physician Owned Hospitals.

"This rebuke by the OIG is further evidence that those who oppose physician-ownership are not providing accurate information to Congress," says Dough Johnson, president of the PHA. "Congress should be suspicious of any communications on this issue that comes from these organizations. The truth is that patients, physicians and staff prefer the physician owned model over the traditional 'big box' impersonal system that is so prevalent today. We ask Congress to recognize this and allow physicians to continue to develop high-quality, cost-effective facilities that give patients a real choice where they receive their care."

The PHA is urging Congress to reject this attempt to bypass the regular legislative process and stop the effort to add anti-physician hospital provisions to the farm bill. To get involved, visit PHA online.