GAO urges CMS to finalize Medicaid DSH rule

In a report issued June 30, the Government Accountability Office urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to issue a final rule implementing the Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payment reporting and auditing requirements of the Medicare Modernization Act. The GAO also recommended that CMS develop a strategy to identify all supplemental payment programs established in state Medicaid plans and a consistent process to ensure those funds are spent for Medicaid purposes.

CMS in 2005 issued a proposed rule implementing the MMA’s Medicaid DSH requirements, which the American Hospital Association said made substantive policy changes not required by the statute.

[ via AHA News Now ]