Hospitals Battle Formula for Medicare Payments for Treating Poor (1)

Roughly 200 acute care hospitals on Friday will press their challenge to the rule used in Medicare to compensate them for treating low-income patients.

The health-care providers are hoping the oral argument at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will overturn a federal district court ruling that went against them nearly a year ago.

How the Department of Health and Human Services calculates the annual supplemental payments, known as disproportionate share hospital (DSH) adjustments, is a contentious issue. At stake are billions of dollars for thousands of hospitals.

Hospitals had argued before the district court ...