Hospitals’ calculation of their Medicaid shortfall would change under a recommendation that MACPAC voted to make to Congress.  That change, in turn, could affect hospitals’ future Medicaid disproportionate share payments.

Last week the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission voted overwhelmingly to change how hospitals calculate their Medicaid shortfall:  the difference between what they spend caring for their Medicaid patients and what Medicaid pays them for that care.  Under MACPAC’s proposal, hospitals would need to deduct from their shortfall total all third-party payments they receive for the care they provide to their Medicaid patients.

If this proposal were to be adopted, it has the potential of changing Medicaid DSH allocations among the states and change the distribution of Medicaid DSH funds within individual states, although the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it would have little impact on either measure.

Complicating the MACPAC recommendation is last year’s federal court ruling that third-party payments could not be deducted from hospitals’ Medicaid shortfall totals because the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services lacks the authority to implement such a policy.  Making such a change therefore would require action by Congress.

Learn more about the MACPAC recommendation and its potential implications for hospitals and their Medicaid DSH payments in the Fierce Healthcare article “’Medicaid shortfall’ definition should change when tallying DSH payments, MACPAC says.”