Washington, D.C. – The latest Senate Farm Bill proposal includes a provision that would ban doctor-owned hospitals and outlaw the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center as it exists today. As negotiations continue on a final Farm Bill, Congressman Doc Hastings is working to protect the Medical Center and its clinics.

Hastings, joined by Senator Patty Murray, Senator Maria Cantwell and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, today wrote to lawmakers responsible for developing the final Farm Bill urging them to "either refrain from including the doctor-owned hospital provision in the Farm Bill or improve the provision to protect the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center and its clinics."

The provision would bar hospitals, like the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center, that are more than 40 percent owned by doctors from being paid for treating Medicare and Medicaid patients. With half of the Medical Center’s care being provided to Medicare and Medicaid patients, eliminating these payments would be devastating and would require the hospital to shut its doors or sell ownership to an outside corporation. Closure of the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center would impact all of its facilities in Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Moses Lake, Cashmere, Royal City, Omak, Tonasket, and Oroville.

Visit www.hastings.house.gov for more details about Hastings’ ongoing efforts to protect the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.

Click here for the text of Hastings’ letter to the Farm Bill conferees.