However, concerns with limited service hospitals' ability to handle emergencies and complications after surgery have become all too real. Recent deaths have occurred at limited-service hospitals due to physicians not being present "after hours." Limited-service hospitals were forced to call 9-1-1-and the full-service community hospital-in order for the patient to receive appropriate, life-saving health care treatment. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which advises Congress on Medicare issues, has maintained that some transfers of patients raises concerns about the quality of care at limited-service hospitals.

Myth #5: "Specialty hospitals are more efficient and provide health care at a lower cost than do full-service community hospitals."


Fact: MedPAC actually found that specialty hospitals are less efficient than community hospitals and drive up utilization. Additionally, the federal government's Congressional Budget Office recently determined that prohibiting self-referral will result in significant savings-$700 million over five years-to taxpayers and the Medicare program. At a time when the cost of health care is spiraling out of control, limited service hospitals contribute to increasing health care costs for Americans.

Myth #6: "Specialty hospitals serve a wide mix of patients, including those on Medicaid and the uninsured."

Fact: The independent, non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) and MedPAC, on behalf of the federal government, separately found that specialty hospitals treat a much lower share of Medicaid patients than do community hospitals in the same area. And limited-service hospital patients tend to be less sick than patients with the same diagnoses at general community hospitals.

Myth #7: "Full-service community hospitals are opposed to competition from specialty hospitals."

Fact: Full-service community hospitals support free and fair competition, but the physician self-referral in which specialty hospitals engage provides an unfair advantage to physician-owned specialty hospitals by, in effect, enabling physician owners to pay themselves for referring patients to facilities they own. Instead of promoting fair competition, specialty hospitals actually stifle it.

The Iowa Hospital Association and the American Hospital Association represent a full spectrum of hospitals-large and small, rural and urban-committed to providing a range of services to the patients they serve. Full-service community hospitals exist to meet the health care needs of the communities they serve. While the physician-owners at Physician Hospitals of America derogatorily call the other hospitals in their community "big box" hospitals, Iowans know hospitals are much more than bricks and mortar. It's the people, resources and services inside the community hospital that matter. Community hospitals stand ready with to provide all services, from burn care and neonatal intensive care units to emergency departments. We're proud of what we do for our communities 365 days a year.

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