Government
Medicare increases payments for critical access hospitals
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 9, 2004
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced in January a pay increase of $900 million over the next 10 years for critical access hospitals serving Medicare beneficiaries. Critical access hospitals are limited-service hospitals located in rural areas more than 35 miles from a hospital or other health care facility and certified by the state as a necessary provider of health care services to residents in the area.
The hospitals are reimbursed their costs in providing care, rather than under the prospective payment system used by most hospitals. The increase was signed into the Medicare reform bill last year.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/02/09/gvbf0209.htm.
