Hospitals fail to get back DSH payments

A group of hospitals owned by Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. have failed in their most recent attempt to get HHS to pay what they say are $500,000 in legitimate disproportionate-share claims. The claims, which date from 1998, were discovered when a consultant working for the Memphis-based chain went over the books. The consultant filed an appeal on behalf of the three hospitals.

However, the appeal was dismissed by the Provider Reimbursement Review Board, which is tasked with handling disputes over Medicare and Medicaid. The PRRB said that the consultant missed one of the necessary filing deadlines. Undeterred, Baptist went to court to get the case reinstated. However, this week a federal judge ruled in favor of HHS.

To learn more about the dispute:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

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