Dobson | DaVanzo recently co-authored a blog with The Commonwealth Fund titled, “Without Renewal of Enhanced Premium Tax Credits, Rural Hospital Revenues Will Drop by $1.6 Billion.” The analysis employed the Dobson | DaVanzo Hospital Finance Simulation Model (HFSM) to estimate the financial impact of the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits on hospitals. The model uses the latest Medicare Hospital Cost Report data, allowing for the examination of revenues and expenses by payer for each acute care hospital.

The study found that the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits for people enrolled in marketplace plans could cause large coverage losses, leading to a nearly 10 percent decline in operating margins, on average, for rural hospitals. Rural hospitals in states that did not expand Medicaid could experience a 38 percent decline in operating margins, on average, with larger declines in certain states. The blog post is available on The Commonwealth Fund’s website, and an extended version of the analysis is available on our website.