Guides
Answers, with the sources.
Short guides to the Medicare cost report and reimbursement questions we get asked most. Each one links the primary source for every rule and figure, and shows when it was last reviewed.
How do I look up a hospital's cost report data by CCN?
Find the hospital's six-digit CMS Certification Number (CCN) in CMS's Hospital General Information file, then read its Medicare cost report from the CMS HCRIS download for that fiscal year. Net patient revenue is Worksheet G-3 line 3. The free CMS files hold everything; our public facility pages do the lookup and the arithmetic for you.
Last reviewed October 19, 2026
How does the Medicare DSH 15% threshold work?
A hospital generally qualifies for a Medicare DSH payment adjustment when its disproportionate patient percentage, the sum of a Medicare/SSI fraction and a Medicaid fraction, reaches 15 percent. Below that it generally gets no DSH adjustment and no uncompensated care payment, which depends on it. Above it the adjustment rises with the percentage, though 75 percent of the amount is withheld to fund the uncompensated care pool.
Last reviewed October 19, 2026
How does MGCRB wage index reclassification work?
The Medicare Geographic Classification Review Board (MGCRB) can let a hospital use another area's wage index. A hospital must show it is close to that area, that its wages are at least 106 percent (rural) or 108 percent (urban) of its own area's, and at least 82 or 84 percent of the target area's. Applications are due September 1, and an approved change lasts three years.
Last reviewed October 19, 2026
Example: a hospital peer group for prospect research
Define the cohort with filters: here, Ohio short-term acute hospitals with 150 to 300 beds, fiscal year 2024. Read the group's margins before any one hospital's, then check what qualifies each figure before drawing a conclusion. In this cohort 15 of 31 hospitals show a negative margin, but that margin leaves out non-patient revenue, so it points to where to look, not to what is wrong.
Last reviewed October 20, 2026