Indiana officials on Friday rolled out what they described as a first-in-the-nation Medicaid financing overhaul designed to pressure hospitals to lower commercial healthcare prices while directing more state and federal money toward rural and lower-cost providers.
The changes — approved by federal regulators early this month — will revamp how Indiana taxes hospitals and distributes supplemental Medicaid payments.
At the core of the plan is a new payment structure that ties Medicaid reimbursement increases to providers’ average commercial prices, using state dollars to pressure high-cost systems to lower rates over time…