Nick Hut
About the Author
Nick Hut is a former newspaper reporter with more than a decade of experience at HFMA. His HFMA Daily reporting is considered a top benefit of membership as members have come to rely on Hut’s daily insights on policy, legal and business developments. He has been at the forefront of major industry news, garnering a following from national media. Nick has earned multiple national awards, including two first-place honors in 2024 from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for excellence in analysis and reporting.
Latest Work
Hospitals warrant an extra boost in their Medicare payment rate next year, MedPAC says
Hospitals will get a more favorable Medicare payment increase in FY25 if Congress follows the recommendations of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). In its semiannual report to Congress, MedPAC recommended a 1.5% bump on top of what otherwise would be provided according to statute. That would mean an estimated increase of about 4.5% for…
The federal policy response to the Change Healthcare cyberattack
Note: This information is excerpted from HFMA’s running coverage of the cyberattack that disabled operations at Change Healthcare. On March 10, HHS and the Department of Labor sent a letter encouraging commercial payers to do their part to help financially strained providers nearly three weeks after the cyberattack on Change Healthcare. “Larger payers in particular…
Responses to a new RFI will help guide regulations addressing consolidation and private equity in healthcare
The Biden administration is ramping up its assessment of how to regulate consolidation and private equity (PE) acquisitions in healthcare, issuing a request for information (RFI) from stakeholders. There is a deadline of May 6 to submit comments on the RFI, which was distributed by HHS, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade…
Federal funding legislation would address Medicaid DSH cuts, physician payments and more
March 8 update The Senate passed the appropriations bill by a 75-22 vote, getting it to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign hours before funding for some federal departments would have expired and a big cut to Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments would have begun. Attention now turns to HHS and other…
Continued 340B eligibility is at risk for hundreds of hospitals thanks to pandemic-related factors
Hospitals that rely on savings from the 340B Drug Pricing Program should examine the possibility that they will soon be rendered ineligible. Several factors are having an industrywide impact on the disproportionate share hospital adjustment percentage, and if that tally drops below a certain threshold on a hospital’s Medicare cost report, the hospital cannot receive…
Cyberattack on Change Healthcare brings turmoil to healthcare operations nationwide
This blog presents HFMA’s running coverage of the Change Healthcare cyberattack and its impact on providers and the healthcare industry. July 29 updates A recent HFMA news article examined both UnitedHealth Group’s latest quarterly financial report and lingering issues for providers amid the ongoing cyberattack recovery. Receiving electronic remittance advice files remains a problem with…
New rule on Medicaid DSH payments will impose stricter limits on many hospitals
Numerous hospitals that receive Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments face a tighter cap on their payment amounts after the Feb. 23 publication of a CMS final rule. The regulations were spawned by 2020 year-end legislation that made changes to the DSH hospital-specific limit (HSL), including with respect to how third-party payments factor into the…
New data shows providers continuing to win most No Surprises Act independent dispute resolution cases
Providers won a large majority of disputes initiated during the first half of 2023 through the No Surprises Act’s arbitration portal for adjudicating out-of-network payments, according to newly published data. HHS and the U.S. Departments of Labor and Treasury released public-use files (available to download here under “2023 Reporting Year”) showing the outcome of every…
Site-neutral payment has backing in healthcare policy circles, but its efficacy as a cost restraint is unclear
The concept of site-neutral payment continues to receive support from members of Congress and healthcare policy analysts, as demonstrated during a recent hearing. The Jan. 31 hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee was intended, in part, to promote pending legislation that would strengthen price transparency and implement other policies designed to…
Hospitals reached steadier ground financially as they moved into 2024
Hospitals came into 2024 with some financial momentum, even as expenses continued to rise and pivotal decisions loomed. The year-to-date median hospital operating margin reached 2.3% in December, the high mark for 2023 and the 10th consecutive month in which margins were positive, according to monthly data from Syntellis Performance Solutions, part of Strata Decision…