Capital fold-in makes payment forecasting difficult for hospitals.
The public review period for the Health Care Financing Administration's proposed regulation to fold capital payments to hospitals into the prospective payment system isn't over yet. But analysts are already saying HCFA's plan would hamper hospitals' ability to predict Medicare capital revenues. "The ability to make a long-range judgment about the regulation is difficult because we don't know the long-range picture. Even what they've [government officials] laid out for the first year is only an estimate," notes Paul Rettig, executive vice president of the American Hospital Association.
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D002201:Capital Expenditures / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D005377:Financial Management, Hospital / Q000639:trends*; D005544:Forecasting; D006278:Medicare / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011445:Prospective Payment System / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States