Written by Ayla Ellison
From the transition to ICD-10 to mergers and acquisitions, hospital and health system CFOs are certainly going to be faced with a myriad of challenges in 2015. Although it’s hard to say what the biggest issue in front of financial leaders is, there are some common top concerns on CFOs’ radars going into next year.
According to a poll conducted by Becker’s Hospital Review, the following are some of most widely cited CFO concerns.
Changing reimbursement levels
About 3,400 acute-care hospitals and 435 long-term care hospitals receive payments under CMS’ Inpatient Prospective Payment System, through which they agree to pre-determined rates to serve Medicare patients. The 2015 IPPS final rule promotes quality of care by enacting a 1 percent reimbursement cut for hospitals with the poorest performance (in the lowest quartile) in reducing hospital-acquired conditions. The initiative, called the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program, is mandated by the PPACA.
The 2015 final rule also updates the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program, another PPACA initiative, which adjusts IPPS payments based on quality of care. In 2014, CMS took back 1.25 percent of Medicare payments to hospitals through the IPPS, and for 2015, the final rule increases the applicable percent reduction to 1.5 percent.
The 2015 final rule cuts overall Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments by 1.3 percent in fiscal year 2015, compared to 2014. In addition, under the PPACA, Medicare DSH payments will be reduced by 75 percent by 2019, or $49.9 billion.
