Cost-Shifting

EMTALA Passes as Unfunded Mandate, Enabling Insurance Industry to Shift Emergency Care Costs to Hospitals

1986-04-07 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

President Reagan signs the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA), which includes the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) requiring hospitals with emergency departments to screen and stabilize any patient regardless of ability to pay. While framed as …

Ronald Reagan American Hospital Association Health Insurance Association of America Pete Stark healthcare unfunded-mandate emergency-care cost-shifting regulatory-capture

Medicare Adopts DRG Prospective Payment System Creating Hospital Profit Incentives for Reduced Care

1983-04-20 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

The Social Security Amendments of 1983 establish Medicare’s Prospective Payment System (PPS), fundamentally transforming hospital economics by replacing cost-based reimbursement with fixed payments based on Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs). Under the new system, hospitals receive a …

Ronald Reagan Richard Schweiker American Hospital Association Federation of American Hospitals healthcare medicare regulatory-capture hospital-industry cost-shifting