tci Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement - 2005 Issue 13

HOSPITALS: Physician-Owned Hospital Payments Might Fall After DRG Changes

Moratorium likely to last until 2007.Do physician-owned hospitals that focus on one narrow specialty hurt local community hospitals? And do they improve patients' outcomes?Two March 8 congressional hearings failed to resolve those tricky questions. The most likely outcome of the two hearings is that Congress will extend the current moratorium on new physician-owned facilities until January 2007, as the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) recommends. MedPAC analysts haven't crunched enough data to know whether physician-owned hospitals improve quality and efficiency of care, or just increase utilization, MedPAC Chair Glenn Hackbarth told the Senate Finance Committee, which...

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