Tax deal reduces funds for hospitals

The recent payroll tax cut package passed by Congress has Massachusetts hospitals reeling over a little-noted section that will cost them tens of millions of dollars. Tucked into the legislation are cuts to the rates paid to hospitals to care for the elderly and poor, as well as a provision slicing a new preventive care fund by about a third. The cuts amount to at least $62 million over 10 years in Massachusetts and possibly significantly more, and they come on top of other reductions that have administrators feeling they have been pushed to the edge.