Federation of American Hospitals President and CEO Chip Kahn issued the following two statements about critical legislation discussed at today’s Health Subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce:

H.R. 3031 (funding for NQF):

Improving medical care for Americans, keeping our caregivers accountable and making care quality and performance transparent to consumers depends on proper care measurement. The quality of that measurement depends in no small part to the oversight and initiatives of the National Quality Forum (NQF).

Congressional funding is mission critical for sustaining and enhancing NQF’s work to improve the care for Medicare beneficiaries and all patients.

As health care depends more on big data and emerging IT technologies, NQF’s work becomes all the more important. The organization is uniquely positioned to expand and meet the challenges of assuring good measurement of high-tech innovation and care advancement. 

FAH deeply appreciates the House Energy and Commerce Committee considering renewed funding for NQF, whose work will shape the future for care quality and performance measurement. We support the legislation of Reps. Chu, Engel and Carter which will push the crucially important work of NQF forward.

Medicaid DSH Payments:

The most vulnerable Americans depend on hospitals for their critical medical care. Medicaid DSH payments are crucial to making that care possible and cutting them would have a devastating impact on millions.

It is so important that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is focusing today on this critical Medicaid issue. We deeply appreciate the more than 300 Members of Congress, led by Reps. Eliot Engel and Pete Olson, who support a delay of Medicaid DSH cuts and we welcome discussion of how to repeal the cuts in their entirety. This is vital to assuring the access to care for Americans in most need.