[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 144 (Thursday, September 22, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5975-S5976]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           WILLSEYE HOSPITAL

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to talk for a few 
minutes about a hospital in Pennsylvania, WillsEye Hospital. This is a 
hospital which is not only critically important to our State but to the 
Nation as well. It serves people from across our State and across the 
country.
  WillsEye Hospital is a public trust that was gifted to the city of 
Philadelphia and founded in 1832. It was the first dedicated eye 
hospital in the country, providing care to the blind and the indigent--
something they still do today. They still have that same mission.
  Unfortunately, if the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services--what 
we know as CMS--has its way, WillsEye Hospital will no longer be able 
to provide this kind of care. This is world-class care that so many 
Pennsylvanians and so many Americans can speak to personally. I had a 
personal experience when my daughter Julia had an eye problem years 
ago, and WillsEye did great work for her.
  In this case, CMS is using an arbitrary ratio of the number of 
inpatients and outpatients to say that WillsEye Hospital is not a 
hospital and should be what is known as an ambulatory surgery center, 
which could have drastic implications and ultimately force WillsEye to 
close. Again, this was an institution founded almost 200 years ago.
  Last week I went to WillsEye in Philadelphia to talk about this 
problem and had the opportunity to meet Joey Povio, whose picture is in 
this enlarged photograph. Joey is 6 years old, and he has 
retinoblastoma, a type of ocular cancer which, if left untreated, will 
lead to his death.
  According to the American Cancer Society, there are 200 cases to 300 
cases of retinoblastoma diagnosed each year. In the last fiscal year, 
WillsEye treated 110 unique individuals with a diagnosis of 
retinoblastoma, or almost 37 percent to 55 percent of the diagnosed 
cases in the country. So you can see the impact of just one hospital on 
a substantial problem that Joey and children across the country have. 
Fortunately for Joey, he is receiving first-rate treatment, but we have 
to have ask ourselves: What about the others who have retinoblastoma? 
What about the children who will have retinoblastoma in the future? 
What will happen to them without WillsEye Hospital?
  You can tell from this picture not just how dynamic Joey is--and I 
can attest to that personally, after having met him--but how focused he 
is on getting better and how confident he and his family are that he 
can, in fact, get better because of the great work done at WillsEye 
Hospital.
  There are many who might think this is just a unique situation or 
simply an unfortunate situation, and certainly it is for Joey and his 
family and for others who have retinoblastoma or a number of other 
ailments or problems that center on their eyes. Thank God we have 
WillsEye to treat those problems. But there are other hospitals in the 
Nation that are dealing with some of these same issues and especially 
dealing with issues that relate to their interaction with CMS, and 
these are obviously some great hospitals that I will mention in a 
moment.
  In this case, for whatever reason, I think CMS is treating WillsEye 
Hospital unfairly. I think that is an understatement. In this case, we 
have a number of institutions that have a bed ratio--that is the 
interplay between inpatient and outpatient that CMS is focused on in 
this circumstance--there are some hospitals that have a bed ratio that 
is lower than the one at WillsEye. Because those numbers are lower, 
that would mean those hospitals should be the subject of the same kind 
of action CMS is taking when it comes to WillsEye.
  When WillsEye was first denied hospital status, their bed ratio was 
17 percent. But according to the data provided by the American Hospital 
Association, the Cleveland Clinic, one of our great institutions, has a 
ratio of 6.14 percent, which is obviously lower than 17 percent, and 
Stanford Health Care, another great institution, has a ratio of 10.5 
percent, which is again lower than the 17 percent at WillsEye Hospital. 
As I mentioned, these are the bed ratios. So it doesn't make much sense 
that CMS is focused on WillsEye and is not taking the same action or 
similar action as it relates to those other two institutions.
  Now, no one would doubt that these two premier institutions--
Cleveland Clinic and Stanford--are hospitals. There is no question they 
are hospitals. Yet CMS is focused on WillsEye in a determination they 
have made that it is not a hospital. It doesn't make any sense.
  CMS does not even have a definite ratio that a facility needs to meet 
in order to have inpatient beds. They simply need to be ``primarily 
engaged'' in providing inpatient services. So there is no definite 
ratio, and yet they are taking action that is to the detriment of 
WillsEye Hospital, and I believe--and I think the evidence in the 
record is clear--to the detriment of a lot of people in Southeastern 
Pennsylvania, a

[[Page S5976]]

lot of people throughout our Commonwealth, and indeed throughout our 
Nation. In this case, I believe, obviously, CMS has made the wrong 
decision.
  One would think, in order to help determine what a hospital is doing, 
a representative from CMS would visit and would do a thorough review of 
the hospital that can only be done in person. You can't do that just 
based upon charts or phone calls. One would think someone from CMS 
would come and see WillsEye Hospital firsthand. They really haven't 
done that yet in a manner that is connected to the actions they have 
been taking. So I have encouraged them to do that. It is not a very 
burdensome task to get on the train, go to Philadelphia, spend some 
time in WillsEye Hospital, and use that as part of the basis upon which 
to make a determination as an agency of government.
  In this case, unfortunately, CMS has made an arbitrary decision, 
which is wrong. This decision threatens this world-class hospital, and 
that is an understatement. In essence, this decision makes no sense. 
WillsEye is a hospital. It provides great care for people who can't get 
this care almost anywhere else in the country, especially when it comes 
to children and especially when it comes to that diagnosis that 
families get of retinoblastoma. Without the intervention and the great 
work at WillsEye, those children will die.
  I will continue to urge CMS to work with me and to work with WillsEye 
on a solution that resolves this bureaucratic problem. That is 
basically what this is, a bureaucratic approach that doesn't make sense 
in the real world--the real world of quality medical care, the real 
world of the services that WillsEye provides, and the real world of 
Joey's circumstance and children like him across our region in 
Pennsylvania but also across the country.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 10 
minutes, and if the Chair would, let me know when I have spoken for 8 
minutes, please.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will do so.
  Ms. STABENOW. I thank the Chair.

                          ____________________