As Congress seeks ways to reduce health care costs for patients and the Medicare system, one approach that has attracted bipartisan attention is location-neutral payment for outpatient services. The idea is that Medicare would pay the same amount for services regardless of where they are provided. This is a departure from current Medicare reimbursement policy, which generally pays higher fees for services provided in hospital outpatient departments than for services provided in free-standing physician offices or ambulatory surgery centers.
upon Monday, June 17th, at noon ETNow, a panel of experts will join KFF Executive Vice President for Health Policy Larry Levitt for a 45-minute discussion on the concept of site-neutral payment, including why it is an issue for policymakers and private payers such as insurers and employers, how Medicare payments currently work, how various proposals would change the law, and the potential impacts of those changes.
Moderator
- Larry Levitt, Executive Vice President, Health Policy, KFF
Panelists
- Zach Cooper, Associate Professor of Public Health (Health Policy), Associate Professor of Economics, and Associate Professor of the Social Policy Institute, Yale University
- Zachary Levinson, Project Director, KFF Hospital Cost Project, KFF
- Ashley Thompson, Senior Vice President, Public Policy Analysis and Development, American Hospital Association
KFF’s virtual Health Wonk Shop series features in-depth policy discussions with experts who offer deeper insights beyond the news headlines.
