Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1179082
10 CFO / FINANCE Senate votes to push back Medicaid DSH cuts By Kelly Gooch T he U.S. Senate has approved a measure to delay $4 billion in cuts to Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital pay- ments that would have begun Oct. 1, accord- ing to America's Essential Hospitals, an asso- ciation representing U.S. safety-net hospitals. Under the Medicaid DSH program, hospitals that serve a large number of Medicaid and uninsured patients receive payments to help cover the costs of caring for them. Assuming uncompensated care costs would decline as the number of insured people increased when the ACA became law, the law lowered Medic- aid payments to hospitals that serve a dispro- portionate share of low-income patients. CMS issued a final rule in 2013 to imple- ment cuts to DSH funding, but lawmakers have repeatedly delayed the federally re- quired cuts. Most recently, the Senate approved delaying the beginning of $4 billion in planned fiscal year 2020 cuts to Medicaid DSH payments through Nov. 21, from Oct. 1. e U.S. House also has approved a measure to delay the fis- cal year 2020 cuts. e Senate's approval came aer CMS issued a final rule Sept. 23 detailing how the $4 billion in cuts would be implemented. e final rule also details how $8 billion in cuts to Medicaid DSH payments each fiscal year from 2021 to 2025 would be implemented. is summer, the House Energy and Com- merce Committee approved a plan to re- peal the $4 billion in cuts in fiscal year 2020 and $8 billion in cuts in fiscal year 2021 as well as reduce the cut in fiscal year 2022 from $8 billion to $4 billion. is means a total of $16 billion in cuts would be eliminated over the three fiscal years. However, a repeal of the cuts would still require full House and Senate approval. n CMS' final burden reduction rule: 5 things to know By Kelly Gooch C MS released its Omnibus Burden Reduction final rule Sept. 26, which aims to cut health- care administrative costs and paperwork. Five things to know about the rule: 1. CMS will allow systems with multiple hospitals to have "unified and integrated" Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement programs and infection control and antibiotic stewardship pro- grams for all member hospitals. 2. Hospitals will have flexibility to set up a policy de- tailing the circumstances under which medical staff could use a presurgery/preprocedure assessment for an outpatient, rather than a comprehensive medical history and physical exam. 3. CMS will let critical access hospitals perform reviews of their policies and procedures less fre- quently. 4. CMS will also formally review the patient care policies and facilities of rural health centers and federally qualified health centers every two years rather than annually. 5. Overall, the federal government estimates the final burden reduction rule will save providers 4.4 million hours of time on paperwork annually and about $8 billion over the next decade. n Hospital operator closes 2 facilities after leadership exodus By Ayla Ellison H ouston-based Nobilis Health closed Scottsdale (Ariz.) Lib- erty Hospital and Surgeons' Premier Medical Center in Sugar Land, Texas, on Sept. 13, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Nobilis had a 75 percent ownership interest in Scottsdale Liberty Hospital, and Surgeons' Premier Medical Center is also referred to as Hospital for Surgical Excellence on the company's website, according to the Houston Business Journal. Nobilis shut down the facilities as the company faces delisting from the New York Stock Exchange and after a few executives resigned. The NYSE American suspended trading of Nobilis' stock after markets closed Sept. 3 because the company has not filed an earnings report since the second quarter of 2018. Nobilis will not appeal the delisting, which is expected to become effective in late September. Nobilis announced earlier in September that two executives re- signed. Brandon Moreno, the company's CFO, and Marissa Arre- ola, chief legal officer, resigned Sept. 6. The company has also churned through at least two CEOs since December 2018, ac- cording to the Houston Business Journal. Nobilis owns, operates, manages or co-manages more than 60 hospitals, clinics and ambulatory care centers in Texas and Arizo- na, according to the company's website. Nobilis recorded near- ly $300 million in revenue in 2017, which was the most recent annual report available at the time of publication, according to the Houston Business Journal. n