NASH has expressed support for several new federal proposals on hospital uncompensated care data reporting and conveyed its opposition to other proposed changes in federal data collection requirements in a new letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

In response to changes CMS has proposed in the uncompensated care data hospitals must submit to the federal government, NASH expressed:

  • Support for CMS’s proposal to clarify aspects of how hospitals must report data on the uncompensated care they provide on the Medicare cost report’s S-10 form.
  • Expressed concern that some of the new data reporting requirements violate current HIPAA requirements.
  • Asked CMS to defer reporting on the rates hospitals negotiate with Medicare Advantage plans until after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

NASH is especially interested in proposed changes in uncompensated care data reporting on the S-10 form because that form is used in the calculation of private safety-net hospitals’ Medicare disproportionate share payments (Medicare DSH).  Those Medicare DSH payments are a vital tool in helping these hospitals serve the low-income and uninsured residents of the communities in which they are located.

Learn more about NASH’s response to CMS’s proposed new information collection activities in this NASH letter to CMS.