Hospitals to see 1.9% jump in Medicare outpatient fees in 2012

Medicare payments to U.S. hospitals for outpatient services would increase 1.9 percent to $41 billion under rules issued by the agency overseeing the federal health program for the elderly and disabled. Payments to cancer hospitals would increase 11.3 percent or approximately $71 million in 2012. Companies such as Tenet Healthcare Corp., which acquired 24 outpatient centers last year, will see modest gains from the rate changes. Dallas-based Tenet, the third-largest publicly traded U.S. hospital chain, made $354 million for Medicare outpatient services in the nine months that ended Sept. 30, a 3.5 percent increase over the corresponding period in 2010, according to a regulatory filing.