2018 was a monumental year in the effort to create a mechanism for Medicare to support value for patients, their families and the healthcare system at large. The bipartisan RUSH Act — Reducing Unnecessary Senior Hospitalizations Act (H.R. 6502) — will improve access to care for millions of patients in nursing homes by bringing emergency and critical care to the bedside of patients as opposed to bringing them to the Emergency Department.
Here’s a recap of 2018 RUSH Act Milestones:
July 25, 2018 — Congressmen Adrian Smith (R-NE), Diane Black (R-TN), Joe Crowley (D-NY), Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) introduce H.R. 6502 to improve access to care at skilled nursing facilities.
By the Numbers
11 — U.S. Representatives who are co-sponsors of the bipartisan RUSH Act
2,000+ — Letters of support submitted via rushact.org from people across the country
344 — Congressional districts in which constituents have sent a letter of support to their representative
17 — Organizations — including patient advocacy groups, health IT leaders and academic institutions — that have endorsed the RUSH Act
Quoteworthy
“Simply put, this bill would make it easier for nursing homes to treat patients in place when facing a health challenge, instead of subjecting them to disorienting and costly trips to the emergency room — two-thirds of which are estimated to be unnecessary. It does this using a model built on a combination of on-site first responders and a telemedicine connection to an emergency physician who can deliver real-time care from miles away.”
— Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) in an op-ed in The Hill
“The RUSH Act would encourage [Call9] and others providing similar services to go into nursing homes in rural areas or that depend heavily on Medicare. Seniors in these homes deserve the same quality of care as those who live in urban or wealthy areas.”
— Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) in an op-ed in the Augusta Free Press
“The problem is bigger than you might think. There’s about 1.3 million transfers from the nursing home to an emergency department” each year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates that about 45 percent of those hospital admissions are unnecessary, amounting to “about $40 billion every year. That’s a huge opportunity to put an innovative solution into the mix, and that’s what the RUSH Act would do.”
— Joel White, executive director of Health IT Now, in a story for U.S. News & World Report
“The growing embrace of innovation by the industry is encouraging, and the more payers and providers shift to value based care combined with high-tech, high-touch solutions, the better it will be for patients, their families and the healthcare system.”
— Timothy C. Peck, MD, cofounder & CEO of Call9, in an op-ed for Becker’s Hospital Review
For more on the RUSH Act, and to view a complete list of news articles, visit rushact.org.
