Last week, and on schedule, the state Department of Health Care Services submitted the proposed model for the next iteration of the hospital fee program to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
This is an important milestone for a critical program that supports Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) with billions of dollars annually to pay for health care services for nearly 15 million Californians.
Since the first program went into effect more than 15 years ago, CMS has taken anywhere from six to nine months to approve the next version. CHA will be working in the coming months with the state and with CMS to ensure the application is moving through the approval process.
The fee program will net some $8 billion for hospitals for patient care in 2025 — critical funding at this moment and almost $3 billion more than in the past year. New to the program, which covers Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2025, are targeted support for critical access hospitals and a 10% increase in payments for labor and delivery, to protect maternity services throughout California.
The model submitted to CMS should be considered a draft until the state receives official federal approval.
CHA has scheduled a webinar, aimed at hospital finance executives and staff, for April 7 at 9 a.m. Click here to register for the webinar, during which our team will share a brief history, a summary of changes, and the future direction of the program.
We will keep you updated as new information becomes available from the state and federal governments. In the interim, questions can be directed to Jesse Delis, vice president, financial policy at jdelis@calhospital.org.
