Why the Safety Net Hospital Alliance Systems Are Different

When it comes to Medicaid and charity care, not all hospitals are equal. Florida's Safety Net Hospitals serve a special role in caring for the poor and uninsured.

It is essential that state policy makers protect these hospitals from devastating budget cuts in 2008.

Consider:

• Safety net hospitals represent just 10 percent of the state’s hospitals, yet provide over 50% of the charity care in Florida, and nearly 50% of all Medicaid hospital care.
• 75% of their patients are government-sponsored or uninsured.
• Their Medicaid/uninsured patient caseload is 66% higher than the rest of the hospital industry.

ANY MEDICAID LOW INCOME POOL CUTS MUST SAFEGUARD HOSPITALS PROVIDING THE CARE

• There’s a $103 million deficit in the Low Income Pool (LIP), a state/federal Medicaid program that is a crucial source of reimbursement for safety net hospitals.
• Recognizing the state’s fiscal crisis, safety net hospitals recommended, through the LIP Council, $60 million in program reductions and are asking the Legislature to provide only $43 million in General Revenue support.
• It’s essential that any LIP cuts must protect the hospitals that provide a disproportionate amount of care to Medicaid/uninsured patients, operate costly trauma centers and deliver most of the graduate medical education in the state.

2007 BUDGET CUTS HURT
OUR NEEDIEST CITIZENS AND
THOSE WHO CARE FOR THEM

• State policy makers must remember they already cut hospital Medicaid reimbursements by 3.2%, or $132 million, in the fall.
• These budget cuts have had a very real impact on communities across Florida.
• Safety net hospitals are committed to treating all patients, regardless of ability to pay, but cannot continue to offer the same services amid massive shortfalls.

COMMUNITIES AND HOSPITALS ALREADY BEAR COSTS OF MEDICAID HOSPITAL CARE

• State General Revenue only pays 9.6% of the cost of inpatient Medicaid care.
• 90.4% of the “state’s share” is made up by local taxes and the state’s “sick tax” on hospitals.
• Safety net hospitals lose money on every Medicaid patient they treat — they receive 94 cents for every $1 in audited care they provide to Medicaid patients.

Remember: For every $1 in state money cut from the Medicaid program, the state loses $1.27 in federal matching money.

Legislators must avoid wastefully forfeiting money earmarked by the federal government to assist Florida’s poor.