Many hospitals identify their starting universe of Medicare bad debt using insurance codes within their patient accounting system. Hospital staff whittle down this population, applying additional transaction codes and write-offs. These processes rely on coding consistency and accuracy, two areas where patient accounting systems frequently fall short. Hospital processes often miss the improperly coded accounts […]
Are you a rural inpatient care hospital considering becoming an REH? If so, you may also be eligible for a Volume Decrease Adjustment Amidst an ongoing period of hospital closures in rural communities, Congress created a new provider category for rural hospitals called the Rural Emergency Hospital (REH). This new provider category takes effect in […]
CMS forecasts out-of-pocket costs hitting households are projected to climb 6.1% in 2022, and an average of 4.6% annually to 2030 – roughly the same rate as their wages. This steep increase in forecasted spending suggests growing affordability issues at a time when families across America are already feeling squeezed by increasing food, interest rates, […]
CMS guidance now specifies that uncollected amounts must be charged to an expense account for uncollectible accounts (bad debt); whereas previously, many hospitals wrote these amounts off as a contractual adjustment. This was particularly true in the case of crossover claims (where a patient was eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid), and patient accounting systems […]
Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine, and we at HRS want to acknowledge 9 hospitals/systems who, in response to the images and reports from the war, are donating their own medical supplies and medicines to be sent to the war-torn nation. 1. The University of Maryland Medical System in Baltimore partnered with medical supply distributor […]