Hospitals Object to MA Plans’ Pass-Along Of 2 Percent Reduction Under Sequestration

Medicare Advantage plans are passing along to hospitals a 2 percent sequestration cut “without regard to the terms of their contracts with those providers,” the American Hospital Association said in an Aug. 13 letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

AHA Executive Vice President Rick Pollack, in the letter to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, said members have reported that MA organizations (MAOs) are cutting payments to network hospitals in accordance with the sequestration reduction.

He urged CMS to provide additional guidance to MA plans explaining that Medicare rates themselves have not been altered by sequestration and that CMS ...