Funding Physician Medical Education

Each year, more than $15 billion of taxpayers’ money is spent to support physicians in residency training. About one-third of this amount comes from Medicaid, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. The remaining nearly $10 billion flows through the Medicare program, primarily to academic medical centers via a complex…

Appropriate IME and DSH payments

Although Medicare has a set rate schedule, not all hospitals receive the same payment for providing the same service. Among the number of adjustments Medicare makes to its inpatient prospective payments rates are the indirect medical education (IME) and disproportionate share hospital (DSH). The goal of IME is to compensate hospitals for patient care costs…