Hospitals’ Dispute Over Medicare Reimbursements Reaches Supreme Court

Hospitals serving poor people urged the Supreme Court on Aug. 7 to consider whether they are being shortchanged by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The case, Advocate Christ Medical Center v. Becerra, will be heard on Nov. 5. Lead petitioner Advocate Christ Medical Center is in Oak Lawn, Illinois, and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra is the respondent. At issue is how HHS calculates Medicare payments to “disproportionate share hospitals,” or DSH hospitals, which are so named because they serve a “disproportionate share” of low-income persons. More than 200 hospitals challenged the government’s funding methodology but U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan upheld the formula, dismissing the lawsuit on June 8, 2022....