NAUH Calls for Delay of Medicare DSH Cuts
The National Association of Urban Hospitals (NAUH) has asked members of the House of Representatives to sign onto a bipartisan letter from Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Devin Nunes (R-CA) asking House leaders to bring to the floor legislation to [...]
NAUH Testifies on Medicare DSH
NAUH has asked the House Ways and Means Committee to delay cuts in Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments (Medicare DSH). In written testimony submitted to the committee as part of a public hearing on hospital-related Medicare issues, NAUH told the [...]
Steeper Penalties in Hospitals’ Future?
Hospitals could soon face larger penalties from the federal government for selected infractions. Under a new proposed regulation from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the agency may soon impose larger fines for [...]
Safety-Net Hospital Finances Falling Behind Other Hospitals
While most hospitals have recovered from the worst of the recession, safety-net hospitals that were already weak before the recession now find a growing financial gap between themselves and other hospitals. So reports the new study “Hospital Financial Performance in [...]
Access to Primary Care: So Far, So Good
The increase in the number of insured Americans as a result of Affordable Care Act reforms is not yet causing major problems with access to primary care services. While access problems have been reported in a few states – most [...]
Study Points to Risk of DSH Cuts
A new study suggests that future cuts in Medicare disproportionate share (Medicare DSH) and Medicaid DSH payments could pose problems for hospitals that serve large numbers of uninsured patients. According to a new report in the journal Health Affairs, Such [...]
Proposed Medicare Inpatient Regulation Released
How will Medicare pay hospitals for inpatient services in FY 2015? The answer to that question begins with a regulation: the Medicare inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) regulation for FY 2015. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has [...]
Report Questions Fairness of Medicare Quality and Incentive Programs
A draft technical report by the National Quality Forum has called into question the fairness of Affordable Care Act Medicare programs that seek to provide financial incentives to hospitals that meet selected quality care standards and penalize those that fail [...]
OIG Recommends Site-Neutral Payments for Some Medicare Outpatient Surgery
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has recommended that Medicare introduce site-neutral payments for low-risk and no-risk surgical procedures that could be performed in ambulatory surgical centers instead of hospital outpatient facilities. [...]
Medicare Risk Adjustment Methodology Questioned
Medicare should perform risk adjustment of payments to hospitals and insurers based on socioeconomic considerations or the overall health of populations rather than on the medical conditions of patients, according to a new study. Analysts at the Dartmouth Atlas Project [...]
