The legislation seeks to increase payments to these hospitals, bringing them more on-par with what nearby Ohio hospitals are paid. Medicare payments are calculated by a number of factors, included wage levels for the market. The legislation seeks to update the wage level calculation for the West Virginia hospitals since labor costs are similar to those of the Ohio facilities, according to the report.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who introduced the legislation in the Senate, said, “We must make sure that our hospitals share a level playing field with Ohio’s hospitals which are only a few miles away.”
The five hospitals that would benefit from the legislation are Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospitals, both in Parkersburg, Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale, Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling and Weirton (W.Va.) Medical Center.
Read the Charleston Daily Mail report on West Virginia hospitals.
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