Medicare raises U.S. hospital payment rates for FY2015

The U.S. government said on Monday that it will increase the operating payments that acute-care and long-term care hospitals receive from Medicare for inpatient care for the federal fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a 1.4 percent rate update for 3,400 acute care hospitals and a 1.1 percent rate update for 435 long-term care hospitals for fiscal year 2015. Under a final rule released on Monday, CMS also said it would distribute $7.65 billion in payments to hospitals for uncompensated care, a decrease from the $8.56 billion it initially proposed. The American Hospital Association said it was disappointed in the higher-than-expected payment cuts.