Beleaguered Hospitals Seek Advance Payment From Insurers
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that a Wakely study of COVID-19-related risk to insurers only examined the risk to commercial carriers. While the study did not estimate risk to traditional Medicare or Medicaid, it did include risk to Medicaid managed care and Medicare Advantage plans. This version of the story has been corrected.
In a series of open letters dated April 1, the American Hospital Association (AHA) asked payers to consider moving temporarily to an advance or scheduled payments model because hospitals’ cash flow is strained by the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts say the need for liquidity is very real, but what hospitals are requesting may not be feasible.