WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-1) and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5) recently lead a bipartisan group of Representatives in sending a letter to the House and Senate group negotiating an extension of the payroll tax credit, calling on them to extend Medicare provisions that benefit rural communities.

The provisions help ensure quality health care in rural communities and support local jobs.

“High quality health care in rural America cannot fall victim to partisan games,” said Thompson. “Folks on both sides of the aisle agree – regardless of if you live in a big city, small town, or rural community, everyone deserves access to affordable, quality care. Congress has extended these benefits many times before and we must do it again so that rural families continue receiving the same level of health care services.”

Approximately one fourth of all Americans live in rural areas that rely on local community hospitals, clinics and independent practices for their health care.

Many of these facilities face challenges that these important provisions help them overcome such as remote geographic location, workforce scarcity, physician shortages and constrained financial resources.

Extending Medicare health benefits help rural facilities and health providers recruit and retain skilled practitioners, provide quality outpatient care and mental health services, and respond to emergency health events.

In addition to the health benefits provided by rural health care facilities, they also provide jobs to rural communities.

The average Critical Access Hospital directly employs more than 100 people and provides more than $4 million in direct salary, wages and benefits.

An independent physician in a rural area supports more than 20 jobs and provides $1 million in economic benefit to their communities.

“The Medicare “extender” provisions are vital to ensuring that rural hospitals, doctors and other health care professionals can provide needed emergency and primary care,” stressed Gail Nickerson, President California State Rural Health Association. “The expiration of Medicare extenders will inhibit the ability of hospitals and providers to recruit and retain professionals, negatively impact patient access, and will have a devastating impact on the economies of our rural communities, because health care is a major employer and business in most rural areas.”

Below is the full text of the letter to Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Champ and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus.

Dear Chairman Camp and Chairman Baucus,

Rural Americans depend on local community hospitals, clinics and independent practices as vital access points to critical primary, emergency and mental health care. These facilities also provide a significant number of jobs in hard hit rural areas. In fact, a single community hospital can mean as much as 20 percent of total economic activity in small rural communities.

Health Care providers in rural America, though, face significant barriers– remote geographic location, small size, workforce scarcity, physician shortages, unpredictable case and payer mixes, and constrained financial resources. Because of these challenges, Congress has enacted a number of programs that help these facilities and other rural providers recruit and retain skilled practitioners, provide quality outpatient care and respond to emergency health events. These programs, which were extended in P.L. 111-309 and P.L. 112-78, have long received bipartisan support. Other hospital provisions, which expire at the end September, accomplish many of these same goals and their extension is similarly vital.

Across the country, these programs have helped sustain fragile health care delivery systems and ensure that these facilities remain open and that access for rural Americans remains as strong as possible. Because of the vital nature of these facilities and the fragile nature of the delivery system in rural areas, we urge you to extend these vital provisions as part of the conference agreement.

Sincerely,

Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Mike Thompson

David McKinley

Nick Rahall

Bill Owens

Jo Ann Emerson

Shelley Moore Capito

Ruben Hinojosa

Adam Kinzinger

Bobby Schilling

Alcee L. Hastings

Thomas Petri

Mike Ross

John Carter

Tom Latham

Bruce L. Braley

Chris Gibson

Ron Kind

Earl Blumenauer

Peter DeFazio

Maurice Hinchey

Donald Manzullo

Peter Welch

Ed Perlmutter

K. Michael Conaway

Robert J. Wittman

John Garamendi

Reid Ribble

Tammy Baldwin

Sean Duffy