NEWS BRIEF
Medicare payments will increase in 1999
More than 5,000 acute care hospitals will receive an increase in their Medicare payments next year, according to an announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services. Most hospitals will receive a 0.5% increase in their base payment rates. An estimated 360 hospitals, many of whom have lost money on Medicare patients in recent years, will receive a 0.8% increase. Medicare’s prospective payment system pays hospitals a predetermined amount for each Medicare discharge based on the patient’s diagnosis. Hospitals in large urban areas receive slightly higher payment rates than those in other areas. The increase comes in the wake of newly published data from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission showing that profit margins for hospitals in fiscal 1998 were 15.9% — the highest since Medicare instituted its prospective payment system in 1984.
For more information about Medicare billing, you might want to attend a conference titled "Medicare Billing for the Prospective Payment System" that will be held Nov. 16-17 in Arlington, VA. Call (212) 714-1444 for information.
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