With the start of the new state fiscal year there have been some changes to the hospital safety net program. Working with WSHA, the Health Care Authority has reset the assessment amounts for the new fiscal year. As of July 1, the daily assessment on non-Medicare days for acute care prospective payment system hospitals is $346 and for psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals is $68. Hospitals were previously sent the data on the number of non-Medicare days for their facility. HCA is expected to invoice hospitals for the assessments on September 1 with payments due at the end of the month.
WSHA will be sending shortly a summary for members of the net benefits of the program for FY2016 and in the near term an estimated impact of the program for FY2017. Andrew Busz, andrewb@wsha.org)
