Nueterra Healthcare fully supports the recent lawsuit filed by Physician Hospitals of America and a Texas hospital aimed at rescinding language in the new federal health care reform law that prohibits fair competition in the medical marketplace.
On June 4, Physician Hospitals of America and Texas Spine & Joint Hospital jointly filed suit in U.S. Federal Court in the Eastern District of Texas challenging the constitutionality of Section 6001 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act. Section 6001 prohibits physician-owned hospitals from expanding after March 23, 2010, and bans any new physician-owned hospitals that are not certified as Medicare providers by December 31, 2010.
Both plaintiffs maintain that Section 6001 is exclusionary and unconstitutional, eliminates competition for non-physician owned hospitals, and will ultimately have a negative impact on patient choice and medical care affordability.
“There is no justifiable reason for physician-owned hospitals to be singled out in this federal legislation. We are providing a valued service to our patients and the community,” said Dr. Michael E. Russell, II, an orthopedic spine surgeon at TSJH. “If we are prevented from expanding, patients will have fewer choices and costs will ultimately go up.”
Texas Spine and Joint Hospital is a top-rated facility that provides valuable jobs and tax revenue in Tyler, Texas. The outcome of the lawsuit could set a precedent affecting the 265 existing physician-owned hospitals in the United States, 29 of which are scheduled to open and receive Medicare certification by Dec. 31, 2010. An additional 45 are currently under development and would not be able to receive Medicare certification by that date. And 39 others are being forced to shelve their development plans because of the new law.
“It is truly illogical and unfortunate that at a time the government is supposedly attempting to increase access to care, it has chosen to stop the growth of many of the best hospitals in the country,” says Molly Sandvig, executive director of PHA. “The American people need more access, not less. We need high quality, efficient, patient-centered care, not more of the same high cost, inefficient, bureaucratic minded care.”
Physician-owned hospitals currently employ more than 75,000 full- and part-time employees in 34 states and have an average annual payroll of $13 million per hospital, with $3.4 billion in cumulative annual payroll nationally.
As the lawsuit progresses, we will keep you informed.