New Medicare Rule Boosts Payments to Nonprofit Clinics

A shift in Medicare rules for payments to community health clinics could channel an additional $1.3-billion over five years to the nonprofit centers, Bloomberg writes.

A new reimbursement system mandated by the Affordable Care Act will pay the clinics a single daily fee of approximately $155 per patient for all the treatment of Medicare recipients, according to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. More than 3,800 clinics could see their payments rise by about a third.

Elderly and disabled Medicare patients represent a fast-growing segment of business at community clinics, which primarily serve low-income communities and are supported by about $3.6-billion in federal grants. The National Association of Community Health Centers has lobbied the government to boost Medicare payments, saying clinics were losing tens of millions of dollars a year because of reimbursement limits.