The California Hospitals Association announced their support of a decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to freeze approval of new physician-owned, limited-service hospitals until January of 2006. Those facilities, according to a CHA statement, have been able to focus on highly profitable programs like cancer care or cardiovascular surgery without offering emergency medical services, leaving full-service hospitals to take care of money-losing patients. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Max Baucus (D-MT) have introduced legislation that would prohibit physician-owners from referring Medicare and Medicaid patients to limited services hospitals, which the CHA supports.
