"The Goal of the Washington American College of Cardiology is to improve Cardiovascular health for residents of Washington State through education, care, and advocacy." Websites Available to You: ACC Legislative Action Center ACC Political Action Committee Advocacy Master Site Important Links to Help You ACC Advocacy

Action Alert – HH-#353544 - Farm Bill Specialty Hospital Last Friday, the Senate Finance Committee included language in the Farm Bill that would significantly prohibit the existence and growth in physician-owned specialty hospitals. The language was included in the Farm Bill as a means to pay for some of the legislation’s expenditures related to disaster aid and agriculture-related tax-credits. In addition, there is a possibility that if the specialty hospital language is not included in the Farm Bill, there may be other attempts to include it in other legislative vehicles in need of an offset. Similar attempts to undermine physician-owned hospitals were already included in the House version of the Mental Health Parity Bill as well as in last year’s CHAMP Act, however no final congressional action has been scheduled on these legislative proposals as of yet. CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES Call you members of Congress and urge them to protect the rights of physicians to own assets and the rights of patients to have access to specialty hospitals. To contact your Representative and urge them to remove the specialty hospital language from the Farm Bill, or any other legislation, to call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. When you call, tell your members of Congress the following: • Do not include language in the Farm Bill, or any other bill, that uses physician-owned hospitals as means of paying for the legislation • Explain to your members of Congress how your facility provides high-quality, patient-centered care • Encourage members of the House of Representatives to work with medical specialty groups, like the ACC, to enact responsible policies regarding specialty hospitals Thank you for your time in advance and for contacting your members of Congress on this important issue.