Hospitals get back $7B in Medicare reimbursements

Hospital advocates have managed to tame a substantial round of planned cutbacks in Medicare reimbursements. Originally, 4.8 percent cuts in the Medicare inpatient prospective payment reimbursement formulas, known as the "behavioral offset," were set to go into effect October 1st.

The behavioral offset would have cost the industry roughly $20 billion, according to industry groups like the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals. The behavioral offset will still go forward, but changes to how it works should reduce the hit taken by hospitals from $20 billion to $13 billion.

The bill limiting reimbursement reductions also imposes a six-month delay in requiring tamper-resistant prescription pads under the Medicaid program and increases Medicare Physician Assistance funding by $340 million.

To find out more about the reimbursement change:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece [1]

Related Articles:
AMA fights physician Medicare cuts. Report [2]
CMS to cut provider reimbursements 5.1 percent. Report [3]
AMA addresses Medicare reimbursement cuts. Report [4]