Hospitals Spar with GOP in Latest Hill Fight on Medicare Cuts

Posted in CMS Corporate Healthcare Policy & The Media

The wrangling back and forth in the US legislature concerning the upcoming vote on the payroll tax cut extension (which includes a provision giving providers a two-year break on Medicare payment cuts) continues to raise the ire of acute hospitals, which would shoulder part of the financing for such an action. The amount to be financed, at the literal expense of hospitals, approaches $17 billion. Essentially, the proposed offsets to direct provider payments would come from reduced payments to hospital administrative and evaluatory functions.

House GOP leaders are in the hospitals’ crosshairs, as the hospitals complain that, under the proposal, there is little incentive for them to continue to collect other payments (copays, deductibles) in the face of such financing, compromising care delivery in the process. Republicans are quick to point out, however, hospitals did agree to major cuts in Medicare as part of reform and that overall Medicare spending would fall by less than 1 percent over the next 10 years. | LINK