A provision approved by CMS in 2012 allowed public hospitals — like Dallas-based Parkland Memorial Hospital — to offset the costs of treating Medicaid patients if they operated private nursing home chains. Under the Minimum Payment Amount Program, county hospital districts are awarded additional reimbursements or “management fees,” according to the report.
However, the program has led to a mad rush by public hospitals to own and operate nursing homes — and in turn, has led to skyrocketing payments. This year the program has amounted to $601 million in payments, compared to $83 million in fiscal year 2014, according to The Dallas Morning News. Because of this, CMS plans to end the payments Aug. 31, according to the report.
A similar program to incentivize teaching hospital providers to see Medicaid patients is also on the chopping block, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Read the full report here.
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