In a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the National Association of Urban Hospitals has offered extensive comments on why the Medicare cost report’s S-10 worksheet is not an appropriate tool to use when calculating hospital Medicare disproportionate share (Medicare DSH) uncompensated care payments.
In support of this view and in response to the publication of CMS’s draft inpatient prospective payment system regulation detailing how it envisions paying acute-care hospitals in FY 2018, NAUH took advantage of the formal stakeholder comment period to offer documentation, including examples, of the shortcomings of the S-10. In the letter, NAUH also commented on proposed changes in Medicare’s hospital readmission reduction program, hospital inpatient rates, the Medicare area wage index system, and quality reporting and advocated the preservation of states’ ability to make supplemental payments to hospitals through Medicaid managed care providers.
This week NAUH presents excerpts from this letter. The schedule for this week is as follows:
- Tuesday – Medicare DSH uncompensated care payments and the S-10
- Wednesday – the Medicare hospital readmissions reduction program
- Thursday – Medicare inpatient rates, the area wage index, and quality reporting
- Friday – the preservation of states’ ability to make supplemental payments to hospitals through Medicaid managed care organizations
See the full NAUH letter here.
