Medicare finalizes higher 2.9% inpatient payment rate for 2025

The Biden administration has approved a 2.9% payment hike for Medicare inpatient hospitals next year, a raise from the previously proposed 2.6%. Despite this, hospital lobbies criticized the rate, arguing it would not adequately cover the increased costs of providing care. The ruling also reduces payments to long-term care hospitals and hospitals serving vulnerable patients, and establishes a new mandatory payment model bundling hospital payments for specific surgical procedures.