Uncompensated Care Costs

Biden Administration Recommits to COVID-19 Reimbursement

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The Biden administration will provide COVID-19 reimbursement to clinicians vaccinating uninsured patients, according to new CMS guidance. The guidance released on Feb. 26, 2021, stated that providers...

Hospital Uncompensated Care Costs Grew to $41.61B in 2019

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Hospital uncompensated care costs increased right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, according to new data from the American Hospital Association (AHA). AHA data showed that hospitals incurred a new...

CMS Cost Reporting Delayed as Hospitals Question Proposed Changes

by Jacqueline LaPointe

CMS has delayed the filing deadline for cost reports by two months for most healthcare organizations because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The agency posted in a COVID-19 Frequently Asked...

Over 40% of Hospitals Seeing Bad Debt, Uncompensated Care Increase

by Jacqueline LaPointe

A new survey of hospital executives and finance leaders has found that bad debt, uncompensated care, and self-pay patients have all gone up since the start of the pandemic, adding to other revenue and...

Limited Reimbursement Paid Out for Uninsured COVID-19 Treatment

by Jacqueline LaPointe

A program designed to offset the costs of uninsured COVID-19 patients during the public health emergency has paid out limited reimbursement to providers, according to a recent report from the Kaiser...

Top-Earning Non-Profit Hospitals Offer Less Charity Care

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Non-profit hospitals are eligible for tax exemptions in exchange for providing charity care and other community services. But a new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins University showed significant...

Trump Budget Eyes More Site-Neutral, Hospital Reimbursement Cuts

by Jacqueline LaPointe

President Trump’s proposed budget for the 2021 fiscal year (FY) is stirring up controversy over massive cuts to Medicare and Medicaid spending and proposals to implement work requirements and...

Funding Legislation Delays $4B in Medicaid DSH Payment Cuts

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Funding legislation aimed at keeping HHS and other non-Defense agencies running in fiscal year (FY) 2020 will also postpone $4 billion in Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payment cuts...

CMS Finalizes How It Will Cut Medicaid DSH Payments Starting Oct 1

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Update 9/27/2019: The Senate passed a continuing resolution that would temporarily stop the implementation of Medicaid DSH payment cuts until Nov. 22, 2019.  CMS on Monday finalized a rule...

Public Charge Rule to Boost Uncompensated Care Costs, Hospitals Say

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The American Hospital Association (AHA) and five other hospital groups urged a court on Wednesday to stop a Department of Homeland Security final rule that is likely to reduce the number of insured...

Non-Profit Hospitals Provided $95B in Community Benefits in 2016

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The value of community benefits provided by non-profit hospitals significantly outweighed the federal revenue foregone due to tax exemption, according to a new analysis released by the American...

Hospitals Could Lose Up to $4.1B Under Medicaid Work Requirements

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Medicaid work requirements would reduce hospital revenue between $3.7 billion to $4.1 billion in 2019 alone, according to a recent analysis by the Commonwealth Fund. Hospitals in over a dozen states...

Hospital Cost Shifting Still Occurring in CO Despite Coverage Gains

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Despite higher Medicaid reimbursement, fewer uninsured individuals, and less uncompensated care costs, hospital cost shifting to commercial payers did not subside in Colorado. Those are the findings...

Finding Medicaid Eligibility Cuts Hospital Bad Debt by 10%

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Extending insurance discovery efforts to insured patients can boost a hospital’s Medicare bad debt recovery by as much as ten percent annually, a new analysis shows. Identifying insured patients...

Medicare, Medicaid Reimbursement $76.8B Under Hospital Costs

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The largest public payers continue to underpay hospitals, data from the most recent American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey of Hospitals revealed. Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement fell...

Judge Voids CMS Rule Altering Medicaid DSH Payment Calculations

by Jacqueline LaPointe

A US District Court for Washington DC recently vacated a CMS final rule from 2017 that required third-party payments, including those from Medicare, to be used when calculating hospital-specific limits...

MO Court Bans CMS from Altering DSH Medicaid Reimbursement Rules

by Jacqueline LaPointe

A District Court in Missouri prohibited CMS from enforcing a 2017 final rule and two Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from 2010 that would alter the formula for calculating hospital-specific limits...

Financial Challenges Continue to Trouble Community Hospital CEOs

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Financial challenges continued to keep community hospital CEOs up at night in 2017, according to a recent American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) survey. Once again, hospital leaders...

Reimbursement Shortfalls, Uncompensated Care Costs Grew in 2016

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement in 2016 was $68.8 billion short of actual hospital costs for treating beneficiaries, according to data from the American Hospital Association (AHA). The information...