DENVER—Colorado has won federal approval of a plan to charge hospitals $600 million in fees on patient care in an effort to expand Medicaid coverage to an estimated 100,000 Coloradans.
The money would be used to draw down a similar amount in matching federal Medicaid money to help expand eligibility for health care services and to increase fee-for-service payments to hospitals for caring for the poor.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services signed off on the plan passed by lawmakers nearly a year ago. Hospitals say the plan will lessen cost-shifting from indigent patients to the insured.
General acute-care hospitals would pay the fees, with discounts for smaller hospitals or those accepting high numbers of Medicaid and indigent patients.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
