“Delay upcoming cuts in Medicaid DSH payments” is the message hospitals delivered to Congress recently in response to a reduction of $8 billion in Medicaid disproportionate share cuts scheduled to take effect on October 1.

The cuts, mandated by the Affordable Care Act, have been delayed by Congress on several occasions over the years in response to the belief that far more people remain uninsured than was anticipated when the 2010 health care reform law was adopted.  According to proponents of the delay, the safety-net hospitals that receive Medicaid DSH payments continue to provide free care to significant numbers of patients and therefore need the federal supplemental funds they have long received for this very purpose.

Medicaid DSH payments are vital for community safety-net hospitals, such as those that belong to the Alliance of Safety-Net Hospitals, because these providers care for far more low-income, uninsured, and underinsured patients than the typical community hospital.

Learn more about this latest effort to delay further cuts in Medicaid DSH payments from the Fierce Healthcare article “Hospitals hope new Congress doesn’t bring new DSH cuts to safety-net hospitals.”