Medicare to reimburse critical access hospitals for the cost of training medical residents - Entrepreneur Generations

A new federal rule will allow the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reimburse Critical Access Hospitals for the cost of training residents. Such hospitals account for more than two-thirds of all rural community hospitals.

The rule change, which takes effect Oct. 1, will make it easier to recruit doctors to rural areas, now that critical access hospitals will be compensated for training residents. In Montana, for instance, 60% of physicians stay and practice in the rural areas where they train, Mari Hall reports for the Billings Gazette.

Democratic Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who proposed the bill, told Hall he's excited about the new rule change: "Anytime you can do good things for the state of Montana and rural America in general, it’s a good thing."

Starting Oct. 1, CMS will also adjust its Medicare payment formula in a way that will boost payments to rural hospitals. But it's not all good news, since a federal appeals court recently reinstated a rule that limits extra payments to disproportionate-share hospitals.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2Q4tpfP Medicare to reimburse critical access hospitals for the cost of training medical residents - Entrepreneur Generations

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

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