MACPAC is statutorily required to report annually on disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments and projected DSH allotments. MACPAC’s initial report, released in February 2016, found little meaningful relationship between current DSH payments and measures meant to identify those hospitals most in need. It concluded that DSH payments should be better targeted toward the states and hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of Medicaid and low-income patients and have disproportionate levels of uncompensated care.
The requirement that the Commission report again on DSH payments, as part of its March 2017 report to Congress, provides an opportunity to further explore approaches to improve the targeting of DSH payments. This presentation sets the stage for the 2017 report, outlining questions to consider when developing recommendations on targeting payments, issues associated with data collection, and potential policy approaches that the Commission could take up in its 2017 report.