AHA Seeks Medicare Funds As Patient Acuity Drives High Costs

The American Hospital Association is asking Congress for additional Medicare funding after new reports found the COVID-19 pandemic has increased patient acuity in the last two years by hiking the cost of complex treatment and driving up patients’ length of stay. AHA points to several new reports – including data from Kaufman, Hall and Associates, LLC , Strata Decision Technologies, and in-house data compiled by AHA – indicating that acuity for both non-COVID-19 and COVID-19 fee-for-service patients has increased over...