Greater proportions of not-for-profit and government hospitals than for-profit hospitals qualified for at least one category of Medicare payment adjustments last year, according to new findings from the Government Accountability Office.
About 97% of government-owned hospitals and 90% of not-for-profit hospitals paid by the Medicare program received at least one form of increased payment to the standard inpatient prospective-payment system last year.
“In contrast,” the eight-page study noted, “roughly 80% of for-profit hospitals qualified for a payment adjustment that year.”
In April, the nonpartisan GAO reported that a number of statutory provisions enacted between 1998 and 2012 have increased Medicare payments to a subset of hospitals.
The researchers found in their review of 3,455 inpatient PPS hospitals that 3,039 of them, or about 88%, qualified for at least one of these four payment-adjustment increases: Medicare disproportionate-share, indirect medical education, wage index reclassification and rural provider type payments. The researchers noted that the DSH adjustment had “the broadest reach, affecting payments to about 4 in 5 IPPS hospitals.” Meanwhile, nearly 1 in 3 hospitals qualified for an indirect medical education adjustment, 1 in 3 qualified for a wage index reclassification adjustment, and almost 1 in 5 received a rural provider adjustment.
In response to those findings, Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) wanted more information that revealed the ownership status of those facilities that qualified for more payments.
The study noted that HHS reviewed a draft of the report and did not have any general comments.
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