Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act Of 2007

hatch.senate.gov, Feb 07, 2007

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) today helped introduce S. 338, The Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2007, which aims to restructure which patients are admitted to long-term, acute-care (LTAC) hospitals, with the goal of saving taxpayers $1 billion over five years. Hatch's prepared remarks follow.

Mr. President, I am happy to join my colleagues, Senators Conrad, Wyden, Vitter, Dorgan and Lincoln in introducing legislation to create standards for long-term, acute-care (LTAC) hospitals. My home state of Utah has LTAC hospitals located in Salt Lake City, West Valley City and Bountiful.

Let me explain what LTAC hospitals are to my colleagues, and discuss the need for this legislation. A general hospital stay in the United States is about six days. In contrast, the average patient stay in an LTAC hospital is 25 days. LTAC hospitals represent one of four post-acute care facilities. Of the four types of post-acute care, LTAC hospitals are the most expensive. And, the number of LTAC hospitals has grown rapidly from 100 to 400 over a 10-year period. These dynamics have led the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to push for having certain LTAC patients treated in less costly facilities such as nursing homes or rehabilitation clinics.
Our legislation is premised on the belief that only truly sick patients should go to LTAC hospitals. Less medically-complex patients should be seen at less intensive facilities. S. 338 limits the type of patients who may be treated in LTAC hospitals and, by doing so, it will generate at least one billion dollars in savings over the next five years. Read more at hatch.senate.gov