Health Affairs Publishes Article on Reforming the Medicaid DSH Program - August 25, 2009

Policy journal Health Affairs published an article on August 18 titled "Reforming the Medicaid Disproportionate-Share Hospital (DSH) Program." The paper offers thoughtful suggestions about how to right-size Medicaid DSH payments and better align funding with uninsured and Medicaid patient care, including:

• Recommending that any reductions in DSH payments to safety net hospitals should be sensitive to actual, rather than assumed, changes in patient volumes;
• Recommending that reductions in DSH payments should be sensitive to Medicaid enrollment shifts as well as reductions in the number of uninsured; and,
• Acknowledging the reliance of safety net hospitals on DSH, and suggesting that states have flexibility to use funds to create innovative solutions for low-income patient care.