General acute care hospitals are projected to get a 3.2% increase in operating payment rates under the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System proposed rule released Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Healthcare Finance reports.
The American Hospital Association decried that increase as too low and “simply unacceptable” considering inflation and rising hospital labor costs.
CMS estimates that payments to hospitals will increase in 2023 by $1.6 billion. The proposed increase applies to acute care hospitals that successfully participate in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program and are meaningful electronic health record users.
The 3.2% increase reflects a market basket update of 3.1% reduced by a projected 0.4 percentage point productivity adjustment and an increase of 0.5% required by statute. In addition, CMS projects Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments and Medicare uncompensated care payments combined will decrease by approximately $0.8 billion. Read more.
