Health News
- Most Kentucky Hospitals Did Average Or Better In New Patient Satisfaction Ratings; Seven Got Top Rating And Six Got Bottom Rating
Most of the Kentucky hospitals that were rated on a newly released five-star scale for patient satisfaction got three and four stars. Seven of them got a five-star rating and six got a two-star rating, the lowest rating given to any of the Kentucky hospitals...
- Nine Hospitals In Kentucky Get Maximum Medicare Penalty For Readmissions; They Blame Socioeconomic Factors
Article updated 10/20/2014 Nine hospitals in Kentucky, eight of them in Appalachia, have been hit with the highest penalty possible by Medicare for high rates of patient readmission. This is the third year the program has fined hospitals, under the federal...
- Lame-duck Congress Could Cut Funding For Critical Access Hospitals; More Than Two Dozen In Kentucky
Critical access hospitals, which in most states are rural facilities with fewer than 25 beds, may be under attack in the lame-duck session of Congress, former national rural-health director Wayne Myers writes for the Daily Yonder. President Obama's...
- 18 Kentucky Hospitals Cited As 'top Performers' On Accreditation Board's Annual List
Eighteen Kentucky hospitals have been included on the annual list of hospitals that have excelled at adhering to basic procedures for surgery and other treatment of common illnesses such as heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia. The Joint Commission,...
- Federal Cuts, Financial Instability And Competition Leave Many Rural Hospitals Fearing The Future
Many rural hospitals could be forced to close because of cuts to the Critical Access Program and the fact that, according to the National Rural Health Association, , 41 percent of critical-care hospitals are losing money, reports Jenny Gold of Kaiser...
Health News
Fiscal-cliff deal revives program that helps rural hospitals dependent on Medicare; 200 in nation, 10 in Kentucky
Even though most of the hospital industry wasn't happy with the fiscal-cliff deal that will only pay half the $30 billion needed to avoid a 27 percent Medicare fee cut for doctors, the deal gave about 200 rural hospitals, including 10 in Kentucky, reason to celebrate. It extends a program that pays hospitals up to several millions of dollars a year because they have fewer than 100 beds, are located in rural areas and have a high percentage of Medicare patients, Phil Galewitz of Kaiser Health News reports.
The Medicare Dependent Hospital Program was created in 1990 and is one of several payment programs designed to help small, rural hospitals deal with financial challenges that larger hospitals don't face. The program is based on the idea that "some rural hospitals have such a high percentage of Medicare patients they are unable to get enough money from higher paying privately insured patients to make up for the lower government reimbursements," health lawyer Eric Zimmerman told Galewitz.
The program has come under scrutiny. Congress allowed it to expire in September 2012, but two senators from New York and Iowa made sure $100 million for the program made it into the budget deal. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission said hospitals in the program will receive about 25 percent higher reimbursements as a result of the funding. (Read more)
The Kentucky hospitals in the program are Clinton County Hospital, Fleming County Hospital, Harrison Memorial Hospital, Jewish Hospital Shelbyville, Logan Memorial Hospital, Monroe County Medical Center, Parkway Regional Hospital in Fulton, Rockcastle Regional Hospital, Taylor Regional Hospital and Westlake Regional Hospital in Columbia. The Appalachian Regional Hospital in Williamson, W.Va., is also considered a Kentucky hospital in the program.
The Medicare Dependent Hospital Program was created in 1990 and is one of several payment programs designed to help small, rural hospitals deal with financial challenges that larger hospitals don't face. The program is based on the idea that "some rural hospitals have such a high percentage of Medicare patients they are unable to get enough money from higher paying privately insured patients to make up for the lower government reimbursements," health lawyer Eric Zimmerman told Galewitz.
The program has come under scrutiny. Congress allowed it to expire in September 2012, but two senators from New York and Iowa made sure $100 million for the program made it into the budget deal. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission said hospitals in the program will receive about 25 percent higher reimbursements as a result of the funding. (Read more)
The Kentucky hospitals in the program are Clinton County Hospital, Fleming County Hospital, Harrison Memorial Hospital, Jewish Hospital Shelbyville, Logan Memorial Hospital, Monroe County Medical Center, Parkway Regional Hospital in Fulton, Rockcastle Regional Hospital, Taylor Regional Hospital and Westlake Regional Hospital in Columbia. The Appalachian Regional Hospital in Williamson, W.Va., is also considered a Kentucky hospital in the program.
- Most Kentucky Hospitals Did Average Or Better In New Patient Satisfaction Ratings; Seven Got Top Rating And Six Got Bottom Rating
Most of the Kentucky hospitals that were rated on a newly released five-star scale for patient satisfaction got three and four stars. Seven of them got a five-star rating and six got a two-star rating, the lowest rating given to any of the Kentucky hospitals...
- Nine Hospitals In Kentucky Get Maximum Medicare Penalty For Readmissions; They Blame Socioeconomic Factors
Article updated 10/20/2014 Nine hospitals in Kentucky, eight of them in Appalachia, have been hit with the highest penalty possible by Medicare for high rates of patient readmission. This is the third year the program has fined hospitals, under the federal...
- Lame-duck Congress Could Cut Funding For Critical Access Hospitals; More Than Two Dozen In Kentucky
Critical access hospitals, which in most states are rural facilities with fewer than 25 beds, may be under attack in the lame-duck session of Congress, former national rural-health director Wayne Myers writes for the Daily Yonder. President Obama's...
- 18 Kentucky Hospitals Cited As 'top Performers' On Accreditation Board's Annual List
Eighteen Kentucky hospitals have been included on the annual list of hospitals that have excelled at adhering to basic procedures for surgery and other treatment of common illnesses such as heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia. The Joint Commission,...
- Federal Cuts, Financial Instability And Competition Leave Many Rural Hospitals Fearing The Future
Many rural hospitals could be forced to close because of cuts to the Critical Access Program and the fact that, according to the National Rural Health Association, , 41 percent of critical-care hospitals are losing money, reports Jenny Gold of Kaiser...