Senator Susan Collins today introduced bipartisan legislation that would assist hospitals, particularly in rural areas, to deliver medical lab services to patients in their communities. Senator Collins introduced with Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) the Critical Access to Clinical Lab Services Act. This bipartisan bill would allow critical access hospitals to be reimbursed for lab services it performs off hospital premises. Current policy only allows federal reimbursement for lab services provided to patients who are physically present in the hospital.
“Reimbursement for lab services performed outside of hospital property is critical for many hospitals in Maine that frequently provide medical care in other settings such as community health centers, skilled nursing facilities, and even in patients’ homes,” said Senator Collins. “It doesn’t make sense that reimbursement rules currently discriminate against lab services provided off hospital property, when they are the same exact services that are provided to patients in the hospital. Critical access hospitals like Blue Hill Memorial point out that they are often the main source of health care in their communities and that their ability to bring lab services to their patients is critical to serve people who live in rural areas or who are too frail or elderly to travel to the hospital itself.”
Until 1997, critical access hospitals had been reimbursed for all lab services regardless of where they were performed, but the policy was changed in 2003. Senators Collins and Nelsons’ legislation would reverse that change to once again provide reimbursement for all lab services. Their legislation is supported by the Maine Hospital Association.
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