OH hospitals lose $79 million award in DSH appeal

A group of 25 Ohio hospitals has lost the latest stage in their ongoing battle to recover a disputed $79 million in Medicare disproportionate-share payments. The hospitals had won a favorable ruling in June 2007, but last week the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the decision.

The dispute stems from a disagreement over how hospitals should measure their burden related to caring for low-income patients. A federal statute requires hospitals to measure this burden based on the number of Medicaid-eligible patients they serve, but CMS had excluded patients treated under Ohio's Hospital Care Assurance Program, which subsidizes free care for indigent patients partly through Medicaid DSH funds.

To learn more about this case:
- read this Modern Healthcare article [1] (reg. req.)

Related Articles:
Federal bill would increase DSH funding eligibility [2]
Hospitals fail to get back DSH payments [3]
TX may use Medicaid funds to subsidize insurance for poor [4]