The American Hospital Association called on CMS to address parts of a worksheet used to compute a hospital's uncompensated care.
In its inpatient prospective payment system final rule for 2017, CMS proposed using Worksheet S-10 data in its calculation of uncompensated care payments by 2021. However, in an April 5 letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma, AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels wrote that prior to using Worksheet S-10 to determine Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments, CMS needs to audit S-10 data for accuracy and consistency.
In addition, Mr. Nickels called on CMS to adopt an overarching definition of uncompensated care costs that includes Medicaid shortfalls and uninsured discounts. Mr. Nickels also urged CMS to "restore excessive documentation and coding payment cuts to the IPPS base in fiscal year 2018."
Click here to view the full letter.