Book123

    Free register and download UseNet downloader, then you can FREE Download from UseNet.

    Download without Limit " Law & Politics Lyrics: Medicare Hospital Subsidies Money In Search Of A Purpose " from UseNet for FREE!

In 1998 the Medicare program allocated $5.9 billion in graduate

medical education (GME) payments to teaching hospitals and

$4.5 billion in Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH)

payments to hospitals that treat a substantial number of lowincome

patients. These supplemental payments to hospitals are in

addition to the standard reimbursement payments that all hospitals

receive for providing inpatient services to Medicare beneficiaries.

The standard reimbursement amounts, known as diagnostic

related group or DRG payments, are set equal to the average cost

of treating a Medicare patient with a particular health condition.

DRG payments to all hospitals totaled $87.4 billion in 1998.

Since DRG payments are intended to cover the cost of treating

Medicare patients, the supplemental payments under the GME

and DSH programs can be viewed as subsidies to hospitals.

Supplemental reimbursements to hospitals in the form of

GME and DSH payments have grown rapidly over the last decade.

They now equal 12 percent of standard Medicare payments for

inpatient hospital care under the DRG system, up from 8.6 percent

in 1988. Since these payments are growing rapidly and are

an important source of funds for many U.S. hospitals, the original

rationale for these subsidies and their effects on hospital behavior

are worth reviewing.

Medicare's Prospective Payment System is administered

using DRG pricing formulas. Its two principal goals are (1) to

ensure that Medicare beneficiaries have access to high-quality

inpatient hospital care, and (2) to encourage hospitals to provide

these services efficiently. To foster these objectives, DRG payments

are set, as we have noted, at the average cost of treating . Buy It at Lowest Price on Amazon

.

Sign In | Not yet a member?