The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON—The Columbia County Health System is planning on a large Medicare take-back payment of around $1.15 million, which is not particularly unusual since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) operate on a cost-based reimbursement model. That is to say they front load money for patient care every year, based on the previous year’s data, and they can either collect the amount they overpay or make additional payments, if they underpay.

It could be a “wash” if CCHS manages to collect what it is owed from three different Medicaid managed care plans, according to CCHS Con...