RetireSafe: Seniors should call on Congress to stand up for better hospital care and lower hospital costs

Today RetireSafe, representing 400,000 senior citizen supporters across America, urged seniors nationwide to call on Congress to save high-quality physician hospitals from the restrictive health care reform language now pending in Congress. House and Senate "reform" efforts would ration high-quality physician hospital care to Medicare patients, as a "cost savings."

"The health care reform bill now being considered would deny Medicare beneficiaries access to the best in hospital care and the best prices by limiting the operation and growth of physician hospitals," charged RetireSafe President Thair Phillips. "For seniors seeking the finest in orthopedic or cardiac care, physician hospitals are an obvious first choice. Precious Medicare dollars can be saved by expanding the use of physician hospitals." He went on to urge every senior to call Congress.

"We need more of these outstanding facilities to serve the growing millions of older Americans on Medicare," Phillips emphasized. "Health care reform as now written would deny our seniors access to new physician hospitals, and put the ones we now have out of business. If this misguided legislation is ever enacted, the limitation language on physician hospitals must be changed before Medicare patients suffer needlessly."

He continued, "Physician hospitals offer the best in patient care, and rate far higher than most of the big chain and so-called 'community' hospitals they compete against. Study after study proves that the smaller physician hospitals provide a higher nurse to patient ratio, more physician control of hospital operations, and minimal patient disruption during recovery.

"Now, thanks to a recent study, we know that physician hospital patients can also expect lower costs, According to Oxford Outcomes, a Medicare patient will pay (on average) $734 less at a physician-owned hospital than they would pay at a non-physician owned hospital. For cardiac and orthopedic patients the Medicare savings were even larger.

"Last year's Consumer Reports study, involving more than one million hospital patients nationwide, ranked physician hospitals as the number one hospital in 19 states, and near the top in the other states in which they operate. Every older American should tell their Member of Congress to stand up for better hospital care and lower hospital costs by opposing the rationing of Medicare hospital benefits at physician hospitals."