Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) Program

Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) is a federal program that seeks to increase health care access for the medically indigent. DSH payments are distributed based upon each hospital’s uncompensated cost of services provided to Medicaid patients and the uninsured. More than 100 Georgia hospitals qualify annually for DSH payments.

 

Payment Methodology

Effective July 1, 2022, the amount of DSH payments will be allocated between two (2) pools of eligible hospitals.

Pool 1 – Critical access hospitals, rural hospitals with less than 100 beds, state owned

Pool 2 - All other acute care hospitals

If hospital directed payments from Care Management Organizations (CMO) are more than 10 percent of all provider payments from CMOs, then Methodology A will be followed to determine the Allocation Pools. If hospital payments from CMOs are less than or equal to 10 percent of all provider payments from CMOs, then Methodology B will be followed.

Methodology A

Pool 1 hospitals receive 100% of the uncompensated care cost, remaining DSH funds allocated to Pool 2 hospitals.

Methodology B

Pool 1 hospitals receive 13.4% of available DSH funds and Pool 2 hospitals receive 86.6% of available DSH funds.

Pool 2 will be equivalent to 86.6% of available DSH funds and used in the calculation of the DSH allocation for all other eligible hospitals.

The maximum DSH allocation for all hospitals is set at 75% of the Adjusted DSH Limit. 

 

FY 2025 Disproportionate Share Hospital Data Survey