Behind The Fiscal Cliff Deal, A Prolonged Hospital Finance Fight

After Congress' fiscal cliff deal this week dug into hospitals' pockets to avert a drop in Medicare payments to physicians, industry associations screamed. The president of the American Hospital Association said the reductions — nearly $15 billion over a decade — "will make it harder for patients to access the care they need." The president of the Federation of American Hospitals also said patients would suffer because lawmakers had decided to "rob hospital Peter to pay for fiscal cliff Paul."

Will hospitals be hobbled by Congress' latest cuts? The answer may lie in a long-running dispute about whether Medicare has been overpaying hospitals for the past few years.

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Source: Kaiser Health News