I recently read an article about the CARES act and its impact on medicaid patients. The article said that before the CARES act hospitals received funding from the federal government for patients who were on medicaid. Moreover, the article said that following the CARES act hospitals were granted additional funding for patients admitted who were on medicaid. I guess my question is, does this incentive hospitals to say that all patients who are on medicaid (or most) that are admitted have COVID-19? They will receive more money from the government if they do say that. And if this what they do, does this impact the number of cases recorded and event the number of deaths (especially considering the fact that you have to be 65 or older to receive medicaid benefits).
There are checks and balances on hospitals. A hospital just cannot claim a patient has COVID-19 without verification.