Empire State Today

Schumer Has Fought For Years To Fix The Medicare Wage Index For Upstate Hospitals, Which Have Been Denied Hundreds Of Millions In Medicare Payments That They Rightly Deserved – Contributing To Financial Woes And Worsening Doctor And Nurse Shortages Across The State

New Proposed Rule Would Have A Game Changing $967+ Million Impact On Upstate NY – Touching Rural And Urban Hospitals In Every Corner Of Upstate NY– The CMS Rule Is Now Under Review And Schumer Says He Is Launching An All Out Push To Bring This Funding Home To New York 

Schumer: It Is Time For Upstate Hospitals To Receive The Full Reimbursements From The Feds They Have Been Denied For Too Long

Following years of advocacy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer today revealed that the recently announced Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed rules change could have an estimated annual nearly $1 billion impact for increased payments to Upstate New York hospitals.

“For far too long, Upstate New York hospitals have faced unfairly low Medicare payments that fell terribly short of wage demands leaving hospitals struggling to compete to bring the best doctors and nurses to Upstate New York. After years of fighting though, the feds have finally shifted course, and proposed a new rule that can help finally rectify the unfair payment system, and give Upstate NY the shot in the arm it has long needed to the tune of nearly a billion dollars every single year,” said Senator Schumer. “This means that hospitals from Buffalo to Albany and Watertown to Binghamton, big and small, in rural and urban areas, can get the support they have long deserved. I will use all my clout as majority leader to push CMS to finalize this proposed wage increase, and I won’t stop until Upstate NY hospitals get the full reimbursements they have been denied for too long.”

Schumer explained that CMS’s FY2024 Hospital Inpatient PPS Proposed Rule would amend the Medicare formula to include $967+ million in increased federal funding for hospital systems across Upstate New York, which for years have received less than the national average for the services they provide.

Schumer explained that the Medicare Wage Index rate is used to determine how much money the U.S. government pays hospitals for labor costs when they treat Medicare patients. Each metro area is assigned a rate that dictates whether they receive more or less than the national average for health care labor costs. For example, since the 1980s, hospitals in the Albany area have received only 86 percent of what the average hospital receives to account for wages, which is not reflective of the true wages and labor market in Albany. The FY24 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule would increase the Capital Region’s adjustment to 122 percent of what the average hospital receives in wage adjustments, finally acknowledging that the region needs much higher than averages wages to compete and bring in the best providers, thereby bringing hundreds of millions in federal funding to Capital Region hospitals each year. This is true across the regions in Upstate New York:

 

 

Schumer is now launching an all-out push to ensure that the proposal is finalized by CMS. Schumer said he will work with fellow representatives, New York hospitals and other stakeholders to support the proposal, which will go through a period of review, public input, and final approval.

A full breakdown on the estimated impact for impacted hospitals across Upstate New York annually can be found below:

 

Original source can be found here.