Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Medicare To Pay Hospitals $3.5B More For Acute Inpatient Services
Modern Healthcare: Hospitals To Receive $3.5 Billion Pay Boost For Inpatient Medicare Services
Hospitals will get a 2.7% pay boost in fiscal year 2021 for inpatient Medicare services amounting to $3.5 billion, according to CMS' finalized inpatient prospective payment system rule released late Wednesday. The final rule, which affects around 3,200 acute-care hospitals and about 360 long-term care facilities, will increase operating and uncompensated care payments for Medicare beneficiaries by $3 billion. There will also be a net increase of $506 million related to adjusted capital payments and new technology add-on payments, which compensate hospitals for cases involving high-cost technologies, CMS said. (Kacik, 9/2)
FierceHealthcare: CMS Finalizes $3.5B Boost In Acute Hospital Spending In New Rule
“This rule is another critical step in our effort to modernize the program and strip away bureaucratic barriers between our seniors and the latest innovative treatments,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma in a statement. As part of the final rule, CMS approved 13 new technologies that applied for new technology add-on payments under Medicare. (King, 9/2)
In other health industry news —
Modern Healthcare: Large For-Profit Hospitals Spend More On Charity Care Than Not-For-Profit Peers, Study Says
Among the country's largest hospitals, a new study finds the for-profit ones dole out more charity care than their not-for-profit counterparts. When stretched across all of the nearly 2,800 hospitals of all sizes included in the study, there wasn't a statistically significant difference in charity care spending across hospitals. But among those with 350 or more beds, charity care was 3.7% of expenses for for-profit hospitals and 2.6% of expenses for not-for-profits. (Bannow, 9/2)
Crain's Chicago Business: Walmart Teams Up With Primary-Care Network Oak Street Health
Oak Street Health is teaming up with Walmart as the retail giant doubles down on healthcare. The Chicago-based network of primary care centers, which went public last month, today announced plans to open clinics at three Walmart stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. While Oak Street Health’s model focuses on patients 65 and older, the retail-based primary and urgent care clinics expected to open later this year will treat patients of all ages. (Goldberg, 9/2)
Crain's New York Business: Ambulance Providers Strained By Lack Of Reimbursement For Treat-At-Home Cases
Commercial ambulance providers in New York are used to a small number of calls for which they treat patients at home who don’t need or want to be taken to a hospital. Such instances have skyrocketed during the pandemic, however, and the companies aren’t being reimbursed for them. In the early days of the COVID-19 public health crisis, commercial ambulance providers moved to help ease the burden on local hospitals by treating and releasing patients when it was possible to avoid a transfer. And many individuals opted to stay at home, even after calling for emergency services, for fear of exposure to COVID. (Henderson, 9/2)
Dallas Morning News: Medical City McKinney Opens New $52 Million Facility
Medical City McKinney’s new rehabilitation and behavioral health services facility is now open, the hospital announced Wednesday. The facility, which cost $52 million, brings services previously available at the Wysong campus to the main Medical City McKinney campus. (Arnold. 9/2)
