HHS Scores Win in Low-Income Medicare Payment Row With Hospitals

Hundreds of hospitals treating Medicare patients have failed in their bid to secure greater compensation for treating low-income individuals following a federal appeals court’s ruling Friday.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court’s rejection of an attack from 200 hospitals against the formula that Medicare used to compensate them for treating low-income patients.

“The district court disagreed with the hospitals, as do we,” Judge Gregory Katsas wrote for the appeals court.

In the district court challenge, the hospitals argued the Medicare formula failed to fully account ...