HHS Properly Denied Minnesota Hospital $1.9 Million Medicare Pay

A rural Minnesota hospital is out additional Medicare money after a federal court determined that it had been adequately compensated for its fixed costs during a downturn in patient volume.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a division of the Health and Human Service Department, correctly held that Lake Region Hospital wasn’t eligible for a “volume decrease adjustment” for 2013 because its Medicare revenue for that year exceeded its unreimbursed fixed costs, the US District Court for the District of Columbia said.

CMS compensates hospitals every time they discharge a Medicare beneficiary, based on the patient’s diagnosis. Certain diagnoses ...