AHA comments on MedPAC payment proposals for 2024

AHA today thanked the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission for recommending a 2024 draft payment update of market basket plus 1% for hospital inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems, but continued to recommend a market basket plus 2.8% update for inpatient and outpatient PPS hospitals and 2.7% update for long-term care hospitals, saying hospitals and health systems face unprecedented financial pressures due to inflation and almost two decades of negative Medicare margins.

“Simply put, Medicare’s payments to hospitals are inadequate,” AHA wrote. “…Specifically, according to the MedPAC data book, the Medicare program has not fully covered the costs of serving Medicare patients since 2002.”

AHA also urged the commission to recommend current law updates for inpatient rehabilitation facilities and hospital-based skilled nursing facilities, and updates to physician reimbursement that more fully account for inflation and recent Physician Fee Schedule cuts, among other comments.