CMS Allows State to Offer Medicaid Incentive for Hospitals to Erase Patient Debt
MedPage Today July 30, 2024
— North Carolina’s plan could help 2 million low- and middle-income people get rid of medical debt
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) signed off on a proposal by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration to offer scores of hospitals in the state a financial incentive to eliminate patients’ medical debt and carry out policies that discourage future liabilities.
Cooper’s office said Monday that CMS late last week approved the plan submitted by the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
The Democratic governor and state health department leaders have described the plan as a first-of-its-kind proposal in the country to give hospitals a new financial carrot to cancel debt they hold on low- and middle-income patients...