Fourteen senators from rural states sent a letter Feb. 23 to CMS administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure urging her department to extend the Low Wage Index Hospital Policy.
The policy, which is set to expire at the end of the 2023 fiscal year, increases payments for hospitals below the 25th percentile of the Medicare inpatient hospital wage index. It was enacted to allow rural hospitals to maintain their workforce and reduce disparities between high and low wage index hospitals.
However, the senators argue in the letter that the disruptions in the marketplace due to the COVID-19 pandemic have prevented the impact of the policy from being seen.
"Extending the Low Wage Index Hospital Policy for four additional years will allow hospitals and the agency to better understand the policy’s true impact in a more normal environment," the letter said.
The letter was signed by both senators representing Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi and one senator from South Carolina and Oklahoma.