For fiscal year 2025, the Congress should update the 2024 Medicare base payment rates for general acute care hospitals by the amount specified in current law plus 1.5 percent.
In addition, the Congress should:
- begin a transition to redistribute disproportionate share hospital and uncompensated care payments through the Medicare Safety-Net Index (MSNI);
- add $4 billion to the MSNI pool;
- scale fee-for-service MSNI payments in proportion to each hospital’s MSNI and distribute the funds through a percentage add-on to payments under the inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems; and
- pay commensurate MSNI amounts for services furnished to Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees directly to hospitals and exclude them from MA benchmarks.