The new policy affects qualifying hospitals and practices in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah, where at least half of all counties have a population of six people per square mile or fewer.
The idea was conceived five years ago by officials at the MeritCare hospital in Fargo, N.D., now part of Sanford Health. They proposed to increase the Medicare wage index, which had been skewed to hospitals in urban areas with a higher cost of living and did not take into account higher costs in rural areas.
For example, the cost of a CT scanner is higher than in urban areas because it has to cover the costs of technicians traveling out from cities to install it.
Read the Bismarck Tribune report on Medicare reimbursements.
Read an earlier Billings Gazette report on the same issue.
Read more coverage of rural healthcare.
–HHS Releases $32M to Improve Rural Health
–CMS Issues Proposed Rule for 2011 Inpatient Payment System
–Rural Physicians See Higher Average Compensation Than Those in Cities, Suburbs
