News Releases

National Healthcare Experts Present to Reimbursement Forum

On Nov. 15, members of The Center for Health Affairs Reimbursement Forum had the opportunity to hear two educational speakers from McGladrey, LLP, a national consulting firm with expertise in healthcare, at their on-site meeting. 

Zack Fortsch, a partner at McGladrey, LLP, presented on the new IRS regulations for community health needs assessments (CHNA), which are now required under the Affordable Care Act. According to the presentation, CHNAs take approximately 6 to 18 months to complete and are not just assessments of the community but must also include strategies for how the hospital will meet the needs outlined. These assessments must be conducted every three years and will be reviewed by the IRS with close attention to whether hospitals met their benchmarks. Fortsch noted that McGladrey, LLP, anticipates that in the future a hospital’s performance on its implementation plan ― a hospital’s plan to address the needs uncovered in the CHNA ― may be used, in part, to determine nonprofit tax exemption. 

K. Michael Nichols, also a partner with McGladrey, LLP, shared valuable information with the Forum on Medicare cost reports, uncompensated care, and margin calculation. Nichols provided an in-depth look at charity care and reporting and what hospitals need to know in order to correctly document the charity care they provide. 

The Reimbursement Forum is a monthly meeting of reimbursement specialists designed to keep member hospitals up to date on key issues, foster discussion among finance and reimbursement professionals, and foster a regional coordinated position on challenges as they arise. For more information on the presentations from this meeting or to learn about the Reimbursement Forum, contact Lisa Anderson at 216.255.3660 or lisa.anderson@chanet.org or Ericka Thoms at 216.255.3610 or ericka.thoms@chanet.org.