Tennessee Rep. Roe Issues Statement on Medicare Wage Index Reform

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 -- Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tennessee, issued the following statement after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid announced the fiscal 2020 final inpatient prospective payment system rule that rebalances the Medicare area wage index to better protect rural hospitals:

"For too long, hospitals in rural America have been adversely impacted by disproportionately lower reimbursement levels from the Medicare AWI. Rural hospitals - like those in East Tennessee - end up with reimbursement rates much lower than hospitals in urban areas.

"In fact, there are hospitals in California receiving reimbursements over 2.5 times those of hospitals in Johnson City and Kingsport performing the exact same services.

"I applaud President Trump, Secretary Azar, and Administrator Verma for finally addressing this significant disparity by establishing a fairer system for rural hospitals.

"While more work can still be done to help rural hospitals keep their doors open, this is a big step in the right direction."

Note: Congressman Roe is a strong supporter of AWI reform and recently led a letter on June 27, 2019 to Secretary Azar at the Department of Health and Human Resources and Administrator Seema Verma of CMS supporting their efforts to reform the AWI. Read the bipartisan letter hereand the final rule here (https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/current).