A new hospital assessment fee program created by the Indiana Medicaid system has worked out well so far for Indiana University Health and Community Health Network. The 2 Indianapolis-based hospital systems enjoyed net gains of $267 million and $23 million, respectively, from the program during the fiscal year ended June 30. The assessment fee program is a way to increase fed matching dollars paid to IN's hospitals through the federal-state Medicaid program. The federal government currently matches IN's spending on Medicaid at about a 2-to-1 ratio. And rules allow IN to raise its payments to hospitals in order to draw even larger fed payments.
