Report: Rural Hospitals Get Billions in Extra Medicare Funds
A law that allows rural hospitals to bill Medicare for rehabilitation services for seniors at higher rates than nursing homes and other facilities has led to billions of dollars in extra government spending, federal investigators say. Most patients could have been moved to a skilled-nursing facility within 35 miles of the hospital at about one-fourth the cost, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general said in a report being released Monday. Hospitals juggling tough balance sheets have come to view such “swing-bed” patients as lucrative, fueling a steady rise in the number of people getting such care and costing Medicare an additional $4.1 billion over six years, the report said….
Legislation passed by Congress in 1997 created the designation of “critical access hospitals” to help small facilities in remote areas survive. Rather than paying set rates for services as throughout the rest of the Medicare system, the federal government reimburses the hospitals for 101 percent of their costs. They also often receive state funding and grants….Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association, did not dispute that Medicare could save money by modifying the system. But he said dozens of rural hospitals have closed in the past five years, and nearly 300 others are on the brink….
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Marilyn Tavenner agreed swing-bed usage has increased. But she said the report was stilted…Read More…