COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS BILL THOMAS, California, Chairman E. CLAY SHAW, JR., Florida JIM RAMSTAD, Minnesota JIM NUSSLE, Iowa ROB PORTMAN, Ohio PHIL ENGLISH, Pennsylvania KENNY C. HULSHOF, Missouri MARK FOLEY, Florida THOMAS M. REYNOLDS, New York CHARLES B. RANGEL, New York FORTNEY PETE STARK, California SANDER M. LEVIN, Michigan BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JIM MCDERMOTT, Washington JOHN LEWIS, Georgia RICHARD E. NEAL, Massachusetts MICHAEL R. MCNULTY, New York WILLIAM J. JEFFERSON, Louisiana JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee XAVIER BECERRA, California LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas EARL POMEROY, North Dakota STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES, Ohio MIKE THOMPSON, California JOHN B. LARSON, Connecticut RAHM EMANUEL, Illinois ALLISON H. GILES, Chief of Staff SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH NANCY L. JOHNSON, Connecticut, Chairman JIM MCCRERY, Louisiana JIM RAMSTAD, Minnesota FORTNEY PETE STARK, California JOHN LEWIS, Georgia LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas MIKE THOMPSON, California RAHM EMANUEL, Ilinois Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records of the Committee on Ways and Means are also published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process of converting between various electronic formats may introduce unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the current publication process and should diminish as the process is further refined. ii CONTENTS Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, Glenn M. Hackbarth, Chairman Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Center for Medicare Manage- Castle, James, Ohio Hospital Association, Columbus, Ohio, letter Coyle, Carmela, American Hospital Association, statement Dauphiné, Damien, North Texas hospital, Lewisville, Texas, letter Fetter, Trevor, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Dallas, Texas, statement Grant, James, American Surgical Hospital Association, San Diego, statement Johnston, Jr., Ben, Focus on Therapeutic Outcomes, Knoxville, Tennessee, |