First few Article Sentences
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended by the Health Care Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively “Healthcare Reform”) will force a dramatic change in the Medicare payment methodology.1 Within the next two-and-a-half years Medicare will undergo a complete transformation so that Medicare reimbursement will be based on quality of care delivered and not just quantity of care delivered. In order to compel this change in Medicare payment methodology Healthcare Reform sets in place the process to establish financial rewards for hospitals that attain certain quality measures and improve from baseline measurements but also penalizes hospitals financially for poor performance or failure to improve.
This article explores a few of the ways in which changes to Medicare reimbursement for hospitals will create winners and losers under Medicare since some hospitals will receive additional money under Medicare and others will receive less.