Physician Hospitals of America Denounces 'Farm Bill' Plan to Sell Out Seniors and...

Physician Hospitals of America Denounces 'Farm Bill' Plan to Sell Out Seniors
and Physicians to Pay for Agribusiness Subsidies

WASHINGTON, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Physician Hospitals of America (PHA)
today strongly denounced efforts by opponents of physician owned hospitals to
sneak provisions into the farm bill in their continuing effort to close all
hospitals that have physician owners.
This is the latest effort by opponents of hospitals that are controlled
and owned by physicians instead of bureaucrats and non-physician corporations
and has already drawn strong criticism from groups such as the American
Medical Association. (Source: American Medical Association, Advocacy Update,
April 14, 2008)
"Our opponents are trying to sell-out America's seniors and the physicians
who've sworn an oath to provide them the best care humanly possible," said PHA
Executive Director, Molly Sandvig, "all for the benefit of big agribusiness
and the big health care monopolies they represent."
Sandvig added that physicians have taken the lead on health care and
hospital reform because their patients are not being well served by a system
"designed by politicians and controlled by bureaucrats."
Senators working on the farm bill who are also opposed to physician owned
hospitals want to use "savings" identified by the Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) to offset the costs of new farm programs.
PHA Executive Director Molly Sandvig said, "We dispute the CBO
conclusions. These so-called savings are being used as an excuse to attack
physicians. But even if the CBO estimate was accurate, using federal money
dedicated to providing healthcare services for Medicare beneficiaries to
support farm programs is outrageous. Americans work hard to pay into Medicare
to support their hospital services. Those tax dollars should not wind up in
the farm program."
PHA also urged members of Congress to be wary of information being
distributed by the various industry groups for whom the effort to close
hospitals owned by physicians has been undertaken.
Recently, for instance, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) sent a
letter to the American Hospital Association, the Federation of American
Hospitals and the Coalition of Full Service Community Hospitals criticizing
the way those organizations had characterized a recent OIG report on physician
owned hospitals in talking points that were distributed to Members of
Congress.
"This rebuke by the OIG is further evidence that those who oppose
physician ownership are not providing accurate information to Congress," noted
PHA President, Doug Johnson. "Congress should be suspicious of any
communications on this issue that comes from these organizations. The truth is
that patients, physicians and staff prefer the physician owned model over the
traditional 'big box' impersonal system that is so prevalent today. We ask
Congress to recognize this and allow physicians to continue to develop high
quality, cost effective facilities that give patients a real choice where they
receive their care."
PHA urges Congress to reject this attempt to bypass the regular
legislative process and stop the effort to add anti-physician hospital
provisions to the farm bill.
SOURCE Physician Hospitals of America

Molly Sandvig, JD, Executive Director of Physician Hospitals of America,
+1-605-275-5349, mobile, +1-605-321-3483, molly@physicianhospitals.org