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Medicare Wage Index

Publications

Alphabetical list. You can also view by publication date.

  • Area Wage Index of the Medicare Inpatient Hospital Prospective Payment System: Perspectives, Policies, and Choices
    Date: 08 / 2000
    Author(s): Anthony Wellever, Andrew Coburn, Charles Fluharty, J. Patrick Hart, A. Clinton MacKinney, Timothy McBride, Keith Mueller, Rebecca Slifkin
    Research center: Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Topics: Health care financing, Legislation and regulation, Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), Medicare Wage Index
    This Policy Paper summarizes the positions of various rural health advocates and recording the actions taken by Congress and the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to improve the wage index. Finally, it outlines the research needed to energize the policy discussion of the uses and methods of calculating the hospital wage index. Report produced by the RUPRI Rural Health Panel.
  • Calculating and Using the Area Wage Index of the Medicare Inpatient Hospital Prospective Payment System
    Date: 06 / 2000
    Author(s): Anthony Wellever
    Research center: Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Topics: Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), Medicare Wage Index
    This policy brief explains how the area wage index is calculated and used, and identifies the major unresolved issues related to its calculation and use. Report produced by the RUPRI Rural Health Panel.
  • Core Based Statistical Areas And The Medicare Wage Index
    Date: 02 / 2004
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Defining rural, Medicare Wage Index
    Report Number: Policy Brief
    Discusses the potential impact of the 2003 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) statistical area standards on the hospital wage index and Medicare payments to rural providers. Additionally, three other possible options for defining labor markets using the 2003 classifications are presented.
  • PPS Inpatient Payment and the Area Wage Index
    Date: 01 / 2001
    Author(s): Kathleen Dalton, Rebecca T. Slifkin
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Hospitals and clinics, Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), Medicare Wage Index
    Discusses how inpatient rates are calculated, the role of the wage index, and issues surrounding the wage index and reimbursement to rural hospitals by Medicare under the Prospective Payment System (PPS).
  • Primer on the Occupational Mix Adjustment to the Medicare Hospital Wage Index
    Date: 09 / 2006
    Author(s): Kristin Reiter, Rebecca Slifkin, Mark Holmes
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), Medicare Wage Index
    Report Number: Working Paper No. 86
    Focuses on the occupational mix adjustment (OMA) to the labor-related share in the hospital inpatient prospective payment system. The Primer explains what the OMA is, why it is needed and how it has been calculated. In addition, reasons why the effect of the OMA has been less than some rural advocates anticipated are discussed.
  • Rural Hospital Area Wages and the PPS Wage Index: 1900-1997
    Date: 10 / 2000
    Author(s): Kathleen Dalton, Rebecca Slifkin, Hilda Howard
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), Medicare Wage Index
  • Rural Hospital Wages and the Area Wage Index: 1990-1997
    Date: 01 / 2001
    Author(s): Kathleen Dalton, Rebecca T. Slifkin, Hilda A. Howard
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Hospitals and clinics, Medicare Wage Index
    Examines whether incremental changes to the hospital wage index have made it more equitable across regions and how these changes have impacted rural hospitals.
  • Rural-Urban Issues In The Wage Index Adjustment For Prospective Payment In Skilled Nursing Facilities (Brief Report)
    Date: 01 / 2004
    Author(s): Kathleen Dalton, Rebecca Slifkin
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Long term care, Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), Medicare Wage Index
    Report Number: Findings Brief
    The hourly wage data collected from Medicare-participating nursing homes were used to examine urban and rural patterns in average hourly nursing home wages and patterns of wage variation within the statewide rural labor markets defined by CMS. The data were also used to examine the adequacy of the hospital wage index as an adjuster for skilled nursing facility rates. Working Paper No. 78 also addresses this topic.
  • Rural-Urban Issues In The Wage Index Adjustment For Prospective Payment In Skilled Nursing Facilities (Full Report)
    Date: 11 / 2003
    Author(s): Kathleen Dalton, Rebecca Slifkin
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topics: Long term care, Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), Medicare Wage Index
    Report Number: Working Paper No. 78
    The hourly wage data collected from Medicare-participating nursing homes were used to examine urban and rural patterns in average hourly nursing home wages and patterns of wage variation within the statewide rural labor markets defined by CMS. The data were also used to examine the adequacy of the hospital wage index as an adjuster for skilled nursing facility rates. A findings brief on this topic is also available.

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