Nick Hut
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Nick Hut
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Disproportionate Share Hospital funding to states doesn’t match up with key benchmarks, report finds
Disproportionate Share Hospital payments don’t always align with key metrics such as uninsured rates and uncompensated care costs, a new policy report finds.
Providers that administer the COVID-19 vaccine are getting a payment bump from CMS
Providers will receive an increase in the Medicare payment rate for administering the COVID-19 vaccine starting March 15, CMS announced.
For rural hospitals, affiliations with large health systems can be a mixed bag
Significant declines in inpatient admissions among rural hospitals that eventually close may be a consequence of affiliations with health systems.
Wall Street is upbeat about the financial outlook for hospitals coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, but many challenges remain
While Wall Street thinks hospitals have a good chance to stabilize their finances in the coming year, a report issued by the American Hospital Association says the adverse effects of the pandemic will continue to be felt.
Hospital job losses continued in February and were greater in January than previously reported
Hospitals lost positions in February, but the biggest news in the latest batch of jobs data was a negative adjustment to January numbers.
With insolvency looming for the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, provider payments could be impacted
The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, used to pay for Part A hospital care, is on track to become insolvent as soon as 2024. Insolvency could lead to delays in payments to providers and adversely affect patient access.
GAO report examines how pass-through status affects Medicare payments for drugs used in outpatient care
A Government Accountability Office report finds that Medicare pays more to cover drugs used in hospital outpatient settings when pass-through payment status is in effect.
After OIG says hospitals may be engaging in upcoding, CMS and AHA dispute the finding
The HHS Office of Inspector General says a significant rise in high-severity inpatient admissions with no corresponding increase in length of stay indicates a possible pattern of upcoding by hospitals in recent years.
New federal guidance seeks to clarify reimbursement of COVID-19 testing and vaccinations
Federal agencies have issued new guidance intended to make it easier for healthcare providers to receive reimbursement for administering COVID-19 tests to insured individuals and for giving vaccinations to the uninsured.
Prospective HHS secretary: ‘We will do robust enforcement to make sure that price transparency is there for all Americans’
Xavier Becerra, the nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden administration, said transparency is a vital step in addressing the issue of healthcare prices.