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U.S.
Senator Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees |
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For Immediate
Release Tuesday, December 9, 2008 |
CONTACT:Michael Amodeo – 303-455-7600 |
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***UPDATE*** Colorado's Rural Hospitals to Receive Much-Needed Funding Boost Under Salazar-Led Law WASHINGTON, DC – Today, United States Senator Ken Salazar announced that sole community hospitals across Colorado will receive additional funding under a provision authored by Senator Salazar that was recently voted into law. The new law, which draws from Senator Salazar’s Medicare Sole Community Hospital Preservation Act, creates a fairer formula for reimbursing sole community hospitals for inpatient services. The 15 sole community hospitals (SCH) in Colorado primarily serve rural and isolated portions of the state. “For Coloradans in small towns and rural areas of our state, sole community hospitals are often the only hospital serving their communities,” said Sen. Salazar. “These hospitals see a high number of Medicare patients, have higher costs because they serve isolated regions of the state, and many are struggling to hang on in these tough economic times. To stay open and to continue serving Coloradans, these hospitals should be receiving a fair reimbursement for the Medicare services they provide – I am proud that this new law will help accomplish this objective.” Sole Community Hospitals are paid for inpatient services based on the higher of a prospective payment rate or cost-based rate determined using a hospital-specific target amount. Under the old law, target amounts were determined using a hospital's 1982, 1987 or 1996 cost years. The new law permits hospitals to also use the 2006 cost year for purposes of determining the target amount. Sole community hospitals in Colorado that will receive higher reimbursement levels under the new law:
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