profession
CMS redistributes residency slots of closed teaching hospitals
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 13, 2012
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced on Jan. 30 the first round of hospitals that will receive redistributed Medicare funding for residency positions from teaching hospitals that have closed.
In all, 1,357 graduate medical education slots will be redistributed to 88 hospitals in the next 18 months, according to CMS (link).
Before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicare funding for such positions was lost if a teaching hospital closed. But Section 5506 of the act now requires CMS to redirect the funding to other institutions. The rule applies to slots at all teaching hospitals that closed on or after March 23, 2008, and includes all future closings.
Applications for the first round of redistributed funding from hospitals that closed between March 23, 2008, and Aug. 3, 2010, were due to CMS in April 2011. Letters have been sent to notify the first 88 hospitals, CMS said.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/02/13/prbf0213.htm.
