Hospital tax yields less than expected

Wisconsin hospitals are getting less money than they anticipated from the controversial hospital tax that was implemented in 2009 to increase their Medicaid payments. Because the increase in Medicaid payments have failed to keep pace with the increase in the hospital tax, the net benefit to hospitals fell 4.3 percent between 2009 and 2010 – from $246 million to $235 million, according to a new analysis from HCTrends, a Milwaukee heath care data tracking firm. (M ILWAUKEE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/29)