The Save our Safety-Net Hospitals Act modifies how Medicaid reimburses hospitals that serve large numbers of low-income and uninsured patients, known as disproportionate share hospitals (DSH). The bill loosens federal restrictions on how much extra payment these hospitals can receive, expanding the types of patients and costs that qualify for additional reimbursement to include those covered by Medicare and private insurance plans. The legislation primarily affects safety-net hospitals in states that participate in Medicaid, allowing them to potentially receive higher payments to offset the financial burden of caring for vulnerable populations. Additionally, the bill gives states a one-time opportunity to distribute any unused federal Medicaid funds from prior years (back to October 2021) to increase payments to qualifying hospitals, as long as they report these changes to the federal government by their annual audit deadline. No specific new federal funding is allocated in the bill; rather, it restructures existing Medicaid DSH payment formulas to benefit these hospitals.
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