On Aug. 1, the Department of Health Care Services notified district hospitals and private hospitals of their tentative eligibility for disproportionate share hospital (DSH) and virtual DSH, also known as DSH replacement, for fiscal year 2022-23. Hospitals have until Sept. 12 to review their DSH eligibility determination and may correct and resubmit their data if they believe it to be inaccurate.
Tentative DSH eligibility was based on 2020 discharge data files and annual financial disclosure reports submitted to the Department of Health Care Access and Information.
In order for a district hospital to be eligible for DSH or a private hospital to be eligible for DSH replacement in 2022-23, their 2020 data would need to show that they have a low income utilization rate, defined as greater than 25%, or a Medicaid inpatient utilization rate, defined as greater than 50.3%, and have at least two obstetricians with staff privileges at the hospital. Under these DSH programs, eligible hospitals can receive additional funds to offset the uncompensated cost to treat Medi-Cal and uninsured patients.