Comment Letters & Letters of Support
The Consumers for Fair Hospital Pricing coalition and the Consumers First alliance, two coalitions made up of leading organizations representing families, workers, primary care clinicians, employers, and health care consumers across the United States, sent this letter calling on Senate leadership to act without delay to remedy some of the most obvious health system failings by improving price transparency, increasing healthy competition, and ensuring that patients pay the same price for the same health care service. Read more...
Consumers First submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the CY 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule which sets the payment rates for how most physicians and paid throughout the health care system. Read more...
Consumers First submitted comments to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the CY 2024 Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System proposed rule, which sets the payment rates for how most hospitals are paid for outpatient care throughout the health care system. Read more...
In this March 28 testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Sophia Tripoli, Director of Families USA’s Center for Affordable Whole-Person Care, discusses the health care affordability crisis and how trends in health care industry consolidation have eliminated competition and allowed monopolistic pricing to push our nation’s families to the brink of financial ruin. Read more...
Comment Letter: Consumers First Letter To 118th Congress (1/23/23)
Consumers First sent this letter to leaders of the 118th Congress urging them to take decisive action this year to further investigate and meaningfully address key drivers of out-of-control health care costs, and to advance well-vetted, bipartisan, and commonsense legislation that would remedy some of the most obvious health system failings. Read more...
Building on the recent successes led by Congress in securing Medicare negotiation of prescription drugs and ending surprise medical bills, Families USA is urging policymakers to take on the next frontier of ensuring affordable health care for consumers – addressing high and rising hospital prices that have resulted from decades of unchecked consolidation and anticompetitive behavior. Read more...
Comment Letter: Consumers First Submits Comments Letter To CMS On FY2023 Outpatient Hospital Payment Rule On Site Neutrality, Ownership And Price Transparency (9/13/22)
Consumers First submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the CY 2023 Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System proposed rule, which sets the payment rates for how most hospitals are paid for outpatient care throughout the health care system. Read more...
Consumers First submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the CY 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule which sets the payment rates for how most physicians and paid throughout the health care system. Read more...
Changes made to the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) for Calendar Year 2023 offer an important opportunity to strengthen the Medicare program and to signal to other payers the need to realign the economic incentives of health care payment and delivery to truly meet the needs of all families, children, seniors, and adults across the country. The recommendations made by Consumers First could catalyze the transformational change needed in our payment system to drive high-value care into the healthcare system and across healthcare markets in the U.S. Read more...
Consumers First, an alliance that brings together the interests of consumers, children, employers, labor unions, and primary care clinicians working to change the fundamental economic incentives and design of the health care system, submitted the attached comments responding to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Request for Information (RFI) on Merger Enforcement. Read more...
Consumers First submitted a detailed comment letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the CY 2022 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System proposed rule. Read more...
Consumers First submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the CY 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule which sets the payment rates for how most physicians and paid throughout the health care system. Read more...
Comment Letter: Consumers First Comment Letter to the Federal Government on the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule (7/10/21)
Medicare payment policy often establishes a standard that is then adopted by other payers, including commercial insurers and Medicaid. Changes made to the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) for Calendar Year 2021 offer an important opportunity to strengthen the Medicare program and to signal to other payers the need to realign the economic incentives of health care payment and delivery to truly meet the needs of all families, children, seniors, and adults across the country. The recommendations made by Consumers First could catalyze the transformational change needed in our payment system to drive high value care into the health care system and across health care markets in the U.S. Read more...
Consumers First submitted a letter to the committee supporting the subcommittee’s efforts to address anticompetitive practices in the US health care system and to elevate solutions that will ensure all people have access to affordable, high-quality health care and the health they deserve. Read more...
Consumers First sent the Biden Presidential Team a detailed letter highlighting the most critical regulations to retain, revise or eliminate as the new administration builds their administrative policy agenda. Read more...