Medicare's Disproportionate Share Adjustment for Hospitals

摘要

Under provisions of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, the Congress required the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to study the adjustment in Medicare's Prospective Payment System (PPS) that provides additional payments to hospitals treating a disproportionately large share of low-income patients. In response to that mandate, the report addresses the following topics: the distribution of payments to hospitals that result from the so-called 'disproportionate share' adjustment; the relationship between serving a disproportionately large share of low-income patients and hospitals' recent costs of treating Medicare patients; and the effects on hospitals, especially disproportionate share hospitals, of options for the disproportionate share adjustment.