The Federation of American Hospitals is urging Congress to postpone or delay Medicare spending cuts associated with the sequestration law, saying hospitals will be forced to layoff thousands of workers if they are implemented beginning next year.

In a Nov. 15 letter to lawmakers, the group, which represents for-profit hospitals, said hospitals "have been one of the few employment bright spots in
recent years," and implementing sequestration cuts could result in about 500,000 layoffs in 2013 alone. Medicare spending would be reduced 2 percent annually for a decade under the Budget Control Act of 2011.

Observers have told BNA that to help avoid reimbursement cuts, providers must convince Congress that cuts are bad idea in a weak economy because it will cause them to jettison jobs. The White House and Congress are expected to soon begin negotiations about how to handle the cuts, which are part of the so-called fiscal cliff, the package of expiring tax cuts and spending reductions scheduled to be implemented in 2013.