Regency Hospital Company Supports LTAC Hospital Legislation Introduced in U.S. House and U.S. Senate

On Thursday, January 18, 2007, Members of the U.S. House and Senate introduced legislation that would create admission criteria for the nation’s “Long Term Acute Care” (LTAC) hospitals.

“We are pleased with the introduction of this legislation. It is important that the appropriate patients are in the most appropriate healthcare settings. This legislation will make sure that this happens,” commented Rod Laughlin, President and CEO of Regency Hospital Company.

In the U.S. House, Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) and Phil English (R-PA) both leading members of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, reintroduced the bill that they first introduced in 2006. On the same day, U.S. Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) and U.S. Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT), members of the Finance Committee, introduced a similar bill, S. 338 in the Senate.

Both bills would establish admission criteria for LTAC hospitals. The Senate bill would require the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to define appropriate patients for LTAC hospitals by general medical conditions and severity of illness, rather than diagnoses. Under the House bill LTAC hospitals would have to admit a large percentage of patients with high-acuity medical conditions. The House bill specifies the method of identifying which severely ill patients should be admitted to LTAC hospitals and defines the percentage of LTAC patients who must meet the new patient criteria.

“Only the most medically complex patients belong in an LTAC hospital, as the cost of the care is greater than other settings. We support patients being in the most appropriate setting for their illness. LTAC hospitals serve a very specific patient population. Many times the LTAC hospital is the answer for the medically complex patient who has not responded in a traditional short term acute care hospital. This level of cares provides these select patients an intensive care type environment for a longer period of time which allows them to get well and go home and hopefully gets them out of the system,” Laughlin stated.

Initial budget estimates suggest the bills, if passed, would reduce Medicare spending on LTAC hospitals by $1.5 to 2 billion dollars over five years.

Regency Hospital Company is a member of the Acute Long Term Hospital Association (ALTHA). ALTHA is a Washington-based trade association of LTAC hospitals, representing two-thirds of LTAC hospitals nationwide. More information on ALTHA may be found at www.ALTHA.org.

Regency Hospital Company is a national network of Long Term Acute Care (LTAC) hospitals. Regency Hospitals serve a crucial role in the continuum of care by caring for medically complex patients who need a longer stay in an acute care environment than the typical acute care hospital provides. The average length of stay in an LTAC hospital is on average twenty-five days. For more information about Regency visit www.regencyhospital.com.