Community Benefit
The American Hospital Association is blasting a court ruling siding with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America over the 340B Orphan Drug program, according to AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels.
Medicaid spending soared nearly 14 percent last year--its biggest annual increase in at least two decades--as a result of millions of newly eligible low-income enrollees signing up under the Affordable Care Act, according to a report released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
More than $240 million is being pumped into the National Health Service Corps and NURSE Corps scholarship and loan repayment programs as incentive for primary care clinicians to practice where they are needed most, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced Wednesday.
A significant number of people accessing ED care for overdoses are coming from underinsured populations where almost no subsidy is paid back to the healthcare provider.
HHS said $350 million will go to 1,184 health centers across the country to pay for programs that improve their population's access to medical, dental, behavioral, pharmacy and vision care. The remaining $150 million will fund renovation, expansions or new construction to 160 health centers in the country.
As rural hospitals continue to struggle to stay afloat, the Kansas Hospital Association is hoping to persuade the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to alter the way it reimburses so hospitals can focus more on outpatient and emergency services.
These awards build on the $101 million awarded to 164 new health center sites in May 2015, bringing the total to 700 sites established with Affordable Care Act funding.
Authors say there is need for more accountability in the Affordable Care Act's charity care standards, especially among nonprofit hospitals, which qualify for about $24 billion in federal, state, and local tax exemptions annually.
But spending on community programs still a small slice of the tax savings these health systems receive.
Dozens of advocates for saving rural hospitals from closure marched into Washington D.C. on Monday, after walking 283 miles to signify the 283 rural hospitals that are on the brink of closure.