Healthcare In Crisis: Hospital underpayments rose in 2007

Friday, November 14, 2008

Hospital underpayments rose in 2007

Medicare and Medicaid payments to U.S. hospitals in 2007 fell $31.9 billion short of the cost of care provided to hospital patients insured by those programs, according to the latest American Hospital Association Annual Survey.

The reported increase in underpayments is $2 billion more than the shortfall in Medicare and Medicaid payments to U.S. hospitals in 2006.

In addition, the survey found U.S. hospitals provided $34 billion in uncompensated care in 2007, up from $31.2 billion in 2006.

Nearly one-third of U.S. hospitals lost money on operations in 2007.

Hospitals continued to see an increase in outpatient visits, with fewer emergency departments caring for a rising number of patients. U.S. emergency department visits rose by more than 2.4 million in 2007, while U.S. inpatient admissions declined by more than 31,000.

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Statistics Collection

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