The Health Wonk Shop: Exploring Site-Neutral Payments – Unpacking the Buzz

Congress is exploring ways to reduce health care costs for patients and the Medicare program. One approach that is gaining bipartisan attention involves site-neutral payments for outpatient services. This means that Medicare would pay the same amount for a service regardless of where it is provided, which is different from the current policy of paying higher rates for services in hospital outpatient departments compared to independent physician offices and ambulatory surgical centers.

A panel of experts will be discussing the concept of site-neutral payments on Monday, June 17 at Noon ET. Larry Levitt, KFF’s executive vice president for health policy, will moderate the 45-minute discussion. The panel will delve into why site-neutral payments have become an important issue for policymakers and private payers like insurers and employers. They will also discuss how Medicare payments currently work, different proposals to change the law, and the potential impact of those changes.

The panelists for this discussion include Zack Cooper, an Associate Professor at Yale University in Public Health and Economics; Zachary Levinson, a Project Director for KFF’s Project on Hospital Costs; and Ashley Thompson, the Senior Vice President for Public Policy Analysis and Development at the American Hospital Association.

KFF’s Health Wonk Shop series aims to provide in-depth policy discussions with experts that offer greater insights beyond the news headlines.