Medicare, Medicaid DSH Payment Methods Exacerbate Racial Disparities

RevCycle Intelligence November 8, 2022
Victoria Bailey

Counties with a significant share of Black residents had worse population health compared to other counties, despite receiving similar levels of DSH payments, highlighting structural racial disparities.

Disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments from Medicare and Medicaid may further racial disparities by basing allocations on patient healthcare use, a study published in JAMA Network Open found.

Medicare and Medicaid DSH payment programs provide $24 billion to hospitals every year to help support care and improve health outcomes for low-income patients. The programs base the distributions on patient characteristics that reflect healthcare utilization.

Racial and ethnic minority groups tend to face structural barriers to care, leading to lower healthcare utilization compared to other groups, even when these

Researchers gathered data on...

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