Medicare Cuts Start Getting Real for Critical Access Hospitals - Do You Have a Plan?

Sequestration's Medicare payment cuts will have a disproportionate impact on small, rural hospitals.

A 1% reduction to all Medicare payments via sequestration kicked in April 1, after Congress suspended the program during the COVID-19 pandemic. The cuts will scale up to 2% on July 1; an additional 4% Medicare reimbursement reduction is slated for 2023 via the Pay-As-You-Go Act.

Sequestration, combined with waning reimbursement levels from private insurers, declining COVID-19 relief grants, lower patient volumes and higher operating costs, jeopardize more than 600 rural hospitals, or more than 30% of the U.S.' approximately 1,800 rural hospitals, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. Two hundred of those hospitals are at risk of closing over the next two to three years, according to the report.

Although there will certainly be legislative initiatives at the federal level to reverse these cuts, CEOs who are trying to regain their financial footing without COVID dollars need a lot more than a wing and a prayer to increase their financial viability. Rural Health Solutions has programs that can do just that. Contact us for more information on what you can do to reverse care outmigration and rapidly build your revenues at https://www.rhcsol.com/landing-page.

If you decide to go with a 'wing and a prayer', well....

you can always enjoy the song.