Just when she thinks she is about to get a handle on things, something comes up from behind and kicks her again. Nussle urged the health care providers to join the battle, and put a human face on the need for higher Medicare reimbursement. But you've got to tell the people perspective of the story.
Miles are minutes in rural Iowa, and sometimes it can mean the difference between life and death.
Now we need to do more than just take the edge off. Health care providers are worried about a new Medicare outpatient payment system that will be written next year. The bill passed today exempts small rural hospitals from this payment system for four years and gives cancer hospitals a permanent exemption from the new payment system. Nussle said approximately 90 of Iowa's 120 hospitals will stand to benefit from the exemption, because those 90 hospitals all have fewer than 100 beds. The remaining 30 Iowa hospitals will still benefit from the provision that phases-in the new payment system.