Dive Brief:
- According to a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, a renewal of the Low Volume Hospital (LVH) and Medicare-Dependent Hospital (MDH) programs is likely to go through as an attachment to legislation that reimburses physicians for their care of Medicare patients.
- About 600 hospitals across the country currently receive funding from the Low Volume Hospitals program, and 177 receive funding as Medicare-Dependent Hospitals, says the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
- Schumer's office says the program renewals have continually been short-term because it would be too expensive to provide long-term financing.
Dive Insight:
These programs have been receiving periodic, short-term renewals for more than a decade. The issue stems from the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, which limited Medicare payments to align with the overall economy's rate of growth. However, since healthcare costs have since soared compared to the overall economy, Congress has to keep stepping in with short-term solutions known as the "doc fix."
While this may provide some measure of security to rural hospitals, many of these facilities continue to strain under severe fiscal pressure, especially in states that have declined to expand Medicaid.