SDAHO, in collaboration with our national partners, appreciate support from Congress on many of our key priorities for the year-end funding package. Last week, SDAHO COO Tammy Hatting made a trip to Capitol Hill to meet with South Dakota’s federal delegation to discuss top concerns from our members and plan for 2025. We reject payment cuts, wish to maintain FLEX and HRSA grant funds for rural support, seek Medicare Advantage reform, ask for protection of the 340B program and request elimination of the unfunded staffing mandate for nursing homes. We have a lot of federal advocacy work ahead of us but look forward to working with the new administration and our South Dakota congressmen, Thune, Rounds and Johnson.
The year-end package is expected to be voted on in the House and then taken up by the Senate in the next few days.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
The bill contains provisions:
- Preventing cuts in Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital payments.
- Extending critical rural Medicare programs.
- Reducing the physician fee schedule cut.
- Extending telehealth and hospital-at-home programs.
The package does not include:
- Any site-neutral hospital cuts.
- Price transparency provisions.
