How will Medicare’s new health equity adjustment in the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (HVBP) program, which assigns additional points to hospitals with more dual-eligible patients for providing high-quality care, affect hospital performance and payment adjustments? [JAMA Network]

In this cross-sectional study of 2676 hospitals participating in the HVBP program, health equity adjustment reclassified 119 of 1206 hospitals (9.9%) from receiving penalties to receiving bonuses. Safety net and high-proportion Black hospitals were significantly more likely to experience increased payment adjustments, as were hospitals located in rural areas and the South. The largest net-positive changes in total payment adjustments were $29.0 million among safety net hospitals and $15.5 million among high-proportion Black hospitals.

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