Health Management Associates

Hospital stocks surged Monday on signs companies will receive more reimbursement money from the government than many analysts predicted, a relief for the industry as it girds for the implementation next year of President Obama's health-care overhaul.A late Friday proposal from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services suggested a 0.8% increase in reimbursement rates for inpatient stays in its fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. While down from the increase for the current fiscal year, analysts Monday said the proposal was still better than they anticipated.In addition, many noted the government appears to be taking a softer-than-feared approach to mandatory reductions on payments to hospitals that care for a large number of low-income patients, known as the disproportionate share hospital rule, or DSH. Many of those patients are expected to gain health-care coverage as part of President Obama's overhaul."It appears that CMS is eager not to kill the hospitals, even with the mandated DSH ...

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