{"id":707,"date":"2012-01-24T10:01:11","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T10:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.medicalbillersandcodersblog.com\/?p=707"},"modified":"2025-05-20T11:50:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T11:50:57","slug":"hospital-billing-and-the-ghost-of-imminent-medicare-cut-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.medicalbillersandcoders.com\/blog\/hospital-billing-and-the-ghost-of-imminent-medicare-cut-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital Billing and the Ghost of Imminent Medicare-cut Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hospital billing serves the role of invoicing for the medical services delivered by hospitals or healthcare organizations, both for in-patient and out-patient care. Hospitals, which hitherto could evade the backlash of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) fix, face an imminent 27.4% reduction to their Medicare fees starting this January unless the Federal Government decides otherwise. Although slightly lower than the initially projected percentage of 29.5, the eventual reduction will have a devastating effect on the clinical and operational sustenance and growth of a majority of healthcare institutions across the U.S.<\/p>\n

Hospitals would not have been so serious about this had Medicare been a negligible entity with marginal stake-holding in the nation\u2019s health insurance sector.\u00a0 But, with Medicare accounting for almost half of the U.S. health insurance covering more people than any other private insurance carrier, the fears are quite natural. Optimize your Hospital Billing Services<\/a> to beat Medicare fee reductions of 27.4%. Learn how to navigate the SGR fix with these expert tips.<\/p>\n

While Hospitals search ways for to off-setting the imminent erosion of revenues and bottom lines, the Private Insurance Sector seems less likely to complement their cause as most of the private carriers themselves are into cost-optimization exercises. Whereas the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) concept might present a ray of hope at the end of a dark tunnel, it can only expected to reap benefits after a considerable realignment and gestation period, which is yet again a matter of resource and time expenditure. Efficient hospital billing is essential for medical service delivery.<\/p>\n

Standing at the crossroads, hospitals will have to make some crucial policy decisions, in terms of:<\/p>\n