Medi- Minutes

Advisory Commission Recommends Medicare 
Raise for Overnight Hospital Care 

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has recommended that Medicare raise its payments for overnight hospital care by 3.5%-4% in October—a much greater increase than the 1.8% scheduled under the 1997 balanced-budget law. The recommendation improves the prospects that Congress could approve a Medicare hospital pay raise for the 2001 fiscal year.

The Congressional advisory panel recently released data that showed hospital profits on Medicare payments for overnight care declined last year from 17% to 12.6%, and hospital profit margins in general fell from 4.3% to 2.7%.