Research Alert: December 4, 2014

Webinar Recording: Change in Profitability and Financial Distress of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) from Loss of Cost-Based Reimbursement

Speaker: Mark Holmes, PhD

• View the presentation online [Flash]
• View or download the presentation [PDF]
• View or download the transcript [PDF]

The President's Budget, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Office of the Inspector General have proposed:

1. Reducing CAH payments from 101% to 100% of reasonable costs;
2. Eliminating the CAH designation for hospitals that are less than 10 miles from the nearest hospital;
3. Eliminating the CAH program altogether and converting all CAHs to PPS, and; Removing Necessary Provider CAHs' permanent exemption from the distance requirement.

The webinar presented summaries of three recent reports:

• Implications for Beneficiary Travel Time if Financially-Vulnerable Critical Access Hospitals Close
• Rural/Urban Differences in Inpatient Related Costs and Use Among Medicare Beneficiaries
• Change in Profitability and Financial Distress of Critical Access Hospitals from Loss of Cost-Based Reimbursement

Key findings and implications of reversion to PPS reimbursement were provided.

Additional Resources of Interest:

• More information about the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center