Medicare cuts could take greater toll on not-for-profit hospitals

Upcoming Medicare cuts to hospitals will have a bigger negative impact on nonprofit facilities than their for-profit counterparts, The Dallas Morning News reports. "In a note to investors, Moody's said the 0.4 percent Medicare reduction in inpatient hospital rates for fiscal year 2011 will amount to an estimated $440 million in lower payments. The cut, announced on July 30, is a key driver for Moody's maintaining a negative outlook for the industry. Not-for-profit hospitals are likely to be affected more because Medicare is their single biggest payer, accounting for about 42 percent of their revenue" (Roberson, 8/10).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.