November 4, 2022 – Vizient offered feedback in response to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Request for Information (RFI) on “Make Your Voice Heard: Promoting Efficiency and Equity within CMS Programs.” Through the RFI, Vizient weighed in on a multitude of topics that affect providers and patients including access to care, provider experiences, health equity and COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) waivers and flexibilities.
To increase access to care, Vizient suggested CMS improve variable payer prior authorization processes along with other plan-mandated policies, such as white bagging, that disrupt patient care. Vizient also recommended CMS finalize the Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) designation to expand access to care in rural communities and encouraged the agency to support providers seeking to provide more robust language access services and culturally competent care.
Vizient also shared examples of how hospitals worked to support employees during extreme situations and insights regarding how alternative staffing models and telehealth can help fill gaps in care. Vizient encouraged CMS to extend several flexibilities that have been provided during the COVID-19 PHE, including those associated with the Acute Hospital Care at Home program.
Reiterating prior comments to CMS, Vizient recommended CMS standardize data and data collection practices and ensure that health equity-related measures are within a provider’s locus of control.
“Vizient appreciates the agency’s efforts to gain broad stakeholder feedback to guide policy decisions that will shape care as hospitals transition from the COVID-19 PHE,” said Shoshana Krilow, senior vice president of public policy and government relations for Vizient. “Vizient looks forward to future opportunities to engage with the agency to support providers, patients and the communities they serve.”