New NAUH Member
The National Association of Urban Hospitals is pleased to welcome its newest member: Methodist Hospitals of Gary, Indiana. Welcome!
Medicaid Pay Bump Gone in Most States; Will it Affect Access?
The temporary increase in Medicaid provider fees for primary care services ended yesterday, leaving observers to wonder whether it will affect access to care for the nation’s growing Medicaid population. The increase, mandated by the Affordable Care Act, raised Medicaid [...]
Access to Medicaid Services
A commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine by noted Medicaid expert and advocate Sara Rosenbaum examines the issues of access to Medicaid services, the effect of adequate (or inadequate) Medicaid reimbursement on that access, and the role the [...]
MedPAC Moves Toward Recommending Site-Neutral Payments for Rehab Services
The independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues is likely to recommend that Congress require Medicare to implement site-neutral payments for some rehabilitation services. During last week’s meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), members received a [...]
Medicaid Primary Care Fees to Plummet
Payments to primary care physicians who serve Medicaid patients will fall an average of 42.8 percent beginning next year when the Affordable Care Act’s two-year increase in those payments ends. In some states – California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New [...]
Unemployment Plays Major Role in Hospital Readmissions
A new study has found that employment status is the leading socioeconomic indicator of hospital readmissions for patients who have suffered heart attacks, heart failure, and pneumonia. Using 2011 and 2012 data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, [...]
Access to Primary Care a Medicaid Problem, HHS OIG Says
Many of the primary care providers that participate in Medicaid managed care programs are inaccessible to those plans’ members, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG). As [...]
Residents of Disadvantaged Neighborhoods More Likely to Require Readmission
Medicare beneficiaries living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely than others to require readmission to the hospital for problems associated with congestive heart failure, pneumonia, or myocardial infarction. This is one of the findings in a new Annals [...]
Homelessness and Safety-Net Hospitals
Homeless people with serious medical problems are more likely than others to be readmitted to hospitals – and especially, to safety-net hospitals – during their convalescence from illnesses and injuries. This is one of the conclusions in the recently published [...]
Feds Release Medicaid DSH “Uninsured” Definition
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published a new regulation that defines “uninsured” for the purpose of calculating the limit for how much individual hospitals may receive in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments (Medicaid DSH). Under federal [...]
