By BETH HENDERSON
Guest Columnist
As a registered nurse and founder of a case management company, I know how our nation’s health care system works – and, more importantly, the challenges and obstacles America’s health care providers face when it comes to delivering high-quality, compassionate care for patients. The global pandemic we are facing has added to these challenges, stretching resources thin and pushing many hospitals and other providers to their breaking point.
The federal government was smart to expand the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Programs (MAAPP) to give distressed hospitals the opportunity to access three or six months of Medicare fee-for-service payments as loans. These loans provided invaluable support for at-risk hospitals and protected patient access to quality care during these turbulent times.
Now, however, the strict repayment terms of these MAAPP loans threaten to undermine the positive impact the loans have had. These terms could end up hurting the very same hospitals they were intended to help. Congress must rectify this situation before it is too late, and Senators Todd Young and Mike Braun should help by lending their support to this effort.
At the beginning of August, most hospitals will be on the hook to begin repayment of their MAAPP loans – a mere 120 days after funds were distributed. For most, if not all, of the hospitals on the front lines fighting COVID-19, this date is simply too soon. The pandemic has not let up – in fact, in many states, it is worsening – so it is unreasonable to believe hospitals have the resources to both continue providing critical care and begin repayment of their MAAPP loans already.
As soon as Aug. 1 rolls around, hospitals that participated in the MAAPP loans will receive zero percent of their Medicare reimbursements until the loan has been paid in full. Cutting off all Medicare fee-for-service payments will reduce payments by roughly one-quarter for most hospitals, further hindering their ability to continue providing the same level of care at a time when their services are needed most.
If hospitals are unable to pay their entire loan within 12 months – seven months for clinicians and other providers – interest begins to accrue at an unreasonably high rate of approximately 10 percent. This is far higher than what Congress specified for other industries, which is quite simply mind-boggling given the important role hospitals are playing to treat patients and contain the spread of COVID-19 right now.
We need Senators Young and Braun, already leaders in pushing health care reform that works for providers and patients alike, to help push for a solution that eases the repayment terms of MAAPP loans. Hospitals and providers need more time to both begin repayment and to repay their loans in full, and they should not be hit with an interest rate any higher than 1 percent – if they are charged interest at all.
Ultimately, updating MAAPP loan terms is the only way to ensure hospitals and health care providers in Indiana are able to meet their patients’ needs and weather the COVID-19 storm.
Beth Henderson is a small-business owner, registered nurse.