NEW YORK (WKBW) — U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D – NY) announced Friday that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed rule change could have a nearly $1 billion annual impact on Upstate New York hospitals.
According to Schumer, for years the Upstate New York hospitals have received less than the national average for the services they provide and the proposed rule change would increase the federal funding they receive by $967+ million.
Schumer said he will now launch an “all-out push” to ensure that the proposal is finalized by CMS.
“For far too long, Upstate New York hospitals have faced unfairly low Medicare payments that fell terribly short of wage demands leaving hospitals struggling to compete to bring the best doctors and nurses to Upstate New York. After years of fighting though, the feds have finally shifted course, and proposed a new rule that can help finally rectify the unfair payment system, and give Upstate NY the shot in the arm it has long needed to the tune of nearly a billion dollars every single year. This means that hospitals from Buffalo to Albany and Watertown to Binghamton, big and small, in rural and urban areas, can get the support they have long deserved. I will use all my clout as majority leader to push CMS to finalize this proposed wage increase, and I won’t stop until Upstate NY hospitals get the full reimbursements they have been denied for too long.”
Below you can find the estimated increases in payments per region and per hospital provided by Schumer.
| Upstate New York Region | Estimated Increase in Medicare Wage Index Payments for Hospitals with Proposed Rule Change |
| Southern Tier | $111,294,513 |
| Western New York | $170,097,923 |
| Rochester-Finger Lakes | $242,572,031 |
| Central New York | $121,408,292 |
| Capital Region |
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