A provision of a Texas budget bill to keep the state's disproportionate share hospital payments intact has pitted private hospitals, who support the bill, against public ones, who argue new funding mechanisms may meet their needs better, according to a report by the Texas Tribune.
Private hospitals provide an estimated 78 percent of state's Medicaid services and 60 percent of care to the uninsured, meaning they both depend and benefit more greatly on DSH payments, which are funded through local taxes that are matched with federal dollars, according to the report.
At issue is a Medicaid 1115 waiver the state received from HHS that allows it to fund hospitals through a new model that better incentivizes quality and outcome-based care, rather than reimbursing hospitals based only on how much uncompensated care they provided. Public hospitals, whose DSH payments would be eclipsed by private hospitals', favor the waiver's funding model, prompting private hospitals to launch a defensive to keep the DSH provision of the budget.
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Private hospitals provide an estimated 78 percent of state's Medicaid services and 60 percent of care to the uninsured, meaning they both depend and benefit more greatly on DSH payments, which are funded through local taxes that are matched with federal dollars, according to the report.
At issue is a Medicaid 1115 waiver the state received from HHS that allows it to fund hospitals through a new model that better incentivizes quality and outcome-based care, rather than reimbursing hospitals based only on how much uncompensated care they provided. Public hospitals, whose DSH payments would be eclipsed by private hospitals', favor the waiver's funding model, prompting private hospitals to launch a defensive to keep the DSH provision of the budget.
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