The Affordable Care Act ( Aca ) - 1297 Words

Introduction The Affordable Care Act (ACA), officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or what many are calling â€Å"Obama Care† is a US law that reforms both healthcare and health insurance industries in America by increasing the quality, availability, and affordability of private and public health insurance to uninsured Americans. It does this through many provisions including; new regulations, taxes, mandates, and subsidies. In addition, expanded Medicaid to millions in states that chose to expand the program (including Minnesota) and is working to curb healthcare spending in the US. The topic I chose to focus on was the affects it has on the revenue cycle of Hospitals. According to the Departments of Health†¦show more content†¦However, there are pros and cons to this reform. Some things that I consider pros would be that they seem to have more covered services in turn keeping people healthier, and fewer uninsured individuals resulting in fewer unpaid medical bills. Although the ACA will make revenue cycles more complex for hospitals, possibly lengthen the revenue cycle, and have complicated payment responsibilities I do think it will give providers the opportunity to improve and excel by adapting the new revenue cycle management (RCM) and acquiring new capabilities that can give them the opportunities to thrive. While there will be revenue growth from newly insured patients, there also will be significant reductions to both Medicare reimbursement and disproportionate share dollars. According to a final rule that implements some provisions of the act the ACA, â€Å"requires aggregate reductions to state Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotments annually from fiscal year (FY) 2014 through FY 2020, at the same time as the marketplace and Medicaid are providing increased coverage options that will reduce uncompensated care levels for hospitals†. The health reform will expand the access to care but will also add complexity, current market trends (pre-authorizations), as well as new government requirements (new MS-DRG system, ICD-10-CM transition etc.) which will require providers to