Medicare, Medicaid; Health Care Safety Net Faces Severe Cuts in Senate Budget Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week via NewsRx.com
May 5, 2007 — (NewsRx.com) -- Florida's health care safety net for the state's neediest citizens and the uninsured is facing $209 million in cuts this year under the Florida Senate's proposed budget. Furthermore, the Senate plan will forfeit $85 million in critical federal funding earmarked for Florida's health care safety net.
While Speaker Marco Rubio and the Florida House's budget provides a sufficient state match to preserve this crucial Medicaid funding, the Senate's proposed budget jeopardizes critical health programs that assist Florida's poor and uninsured.
As a result, Florida's safety net hospitals are urgently advising Senate President Ken Pruitt and Senate budget negotiators to adopt the House's position and preserve this health care safety net funding as the House and Senate begin budget negotiations this week.
If the Senate fails to support the state match, the $209 million in uncompensated health care will be shifted to the local taxpayer and the state's safety net providers -- both of which are already substantially subsidizing the state-federal Medicaid program. The cuts will erode access to health care for uninsured citizens, restrict some health services, and increase private health insurance premiums, since payers would have to pick up some of these costs.
In fact, communities and hospitals have faced growing pressures in recent years to increase their financial support for Medicaid. This year, local communities will contribute $664 million in property and other local taxes to Medicaid, while hospitals will pay about $345 million in "sick taxes" as their share of the partnership for assuring the financial viability of the Medicaid program.
Under the Senate's proposed cuts, the local tax burden for supporting the program would rise to a record $724 million statewide -- nearly a 10 percent increase -- while Medicaid payments to hospitals would be cut anywhere from 9 to 33 percent below audited costs.
"This is a very real, very serious situation for Florida's local communities and for the state's health care safety net," said Tony Carvalho, President of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida. "We greatly appreciate that Speaker Rubio and the House recognize how crucial the state's support of the safety net is, and that it will enable Florida to access critical federal matching money. The Senate must grasp that their failure to act will harm our state's neediest citizens and those who care for them."
The Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida is a group of 14 health care systems that include the state's public, teaching and children's hospitals. While the Alliance hospitals comprise just 10 percent of all hospitals statewide, these hospitals provide more than 50 percent of all the charity care delivered in the state.
The Senate's proposed cuts involve one part of the complex Medicaid program -- the state's Low Income Pool, a capped, $1 billion-a-year fund created just a year ago for the purpose of protecting hospital safety net programs under the Medicaid waiver. The Low Income Pool is used to help cover the costs of charity care and the uninsured who don't qualify for Medicaid.
Medicaid is a state-federal health care program for the poor and disabled. Under Florida's Medicaid program, the state's funding share responsibility is typically around 40 percent, and the federal government's is around 60 percent.
Hospitals lose money on every Medicaid patient they treat, because the Medicaid payments they receive are less than the actual costs of providing care. Today, only 14 percent of Medicaid hospital inpatient costs are paid from state general revenue dollars -- the lowest state share of any Medicaid service. Local communities, hospital taxes and the federal government pay the rest of the tab.
This current funding crisis evolved, in large part, because in recent years, state policymakers have systematically diverted money from the Low Income Pool -- and associated local taxes -- to cover basic Medicaid costs for hospital care. Because of that increasing reliance on local taxes, all available local funds have been used, leaving it necessary for the state to provide the additional $65 million in Medicaid matching funds to prevent major disruptions in this critical safety net program.
Speaker Rubio and House budget writers fulfill the local-state partnership with communities and safety net hospitals by providing the crucial state match in their proposed House budget. But the Senate rejected requests for the same support. If the Senate does not change its stance, Florida's safety net hospitals face the combined loss of the $65 million in state matching money, $86 million in federal matching funds and $59 million that hospitals are voluntarily diverting from hospital payments to help pay for the overall deficit -- a $209 million reduction in the current funding level.
"Safety net hospitals are committed to treating all patients, regardless of their ability to pay," said Marvin O'Quinn, President and CEO of Jackson Health System in Miami -- Florida's largest public hospital -- and board chairman of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance. "But even safety net hospitals cannot continue to offer the same level of services in the face of multi- million dollar shortfalls. These cuts hurt real people in need and the ability to provide safety net programs."
"Speaker Rubio's and the House's budget is both smart and fair," Carvalho added. "That's because the House budget eliminates the need to shift more Medicaid costs down to local communities. The House budget also maximizes the federal funding available to help Florida's neediest citizens, while maintaining Medicaid rates for safety net hospitals at close to their costs."
Hospitals sweat out end of legislative session; Regional systems could lose big in bills By Jennifer Booth Reed
Newspress.com
April 20, 2007 — As the state's legislative session winds down, the anxiety of Florida hospital administrators and advocates is ramping up.
Two legislative issues are exposing Florida hospitals to a potential $560 million loss, which includes a $209 million cut to the medical centers that care for the state's poor.
Lee Memorial could lose $16 million to $17 million. Lehigh Regional Medical Center also could lose nearly $144,000 in Medicaid payment reductions. Its share of potential cuts in automobile accident payments was not available.
Two issues are at play: Government reimbursements for hospitals that see large numbers of uninsured or Medicaid patients; and the potential expiration of a state law that requires drivers to carry personal injury protection insurance.
The House version of the reimbursement plan includes minor cuts. It's the Senate version that's making hospital executives nervous.
"This is a battle in the last week of session," said Tony Carvalho, president of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, a 14-member group that includes Lee Memorial.
"The central theme for us is we can't absorb $350 million or a percentage of that in new costs, and we don't think our health care system can absorb $1.3 billion in new costs," Rasmussen said.
Lee Memorial collects $11 million to $12 million from personal injury protection payments.
Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, has asked for a two-year moratorium on the issue.
Medicaid payments
The Medicaid reimbursement formula in Florida is supposed to set aside $1 billion in extra compensation for hospitals that absorb most of the state’s Medicaid and uninsured patients.
But to access the money — as well as general Medicaid reimbursements — the state has to come up with a certain amount of money to qualify for federal funds.
In Florida, most of that state match comes not from the state’s general revenue funds, but from communities like Miami-Dade and others that have designated health care taxes or county money set aside for medical care. These communities, in essence, loan the money to the state in order to get the federal Medicaid grant.
For various reasons, the community dollars are maxed, and hospitals are asking the state to kick in $65 million in order to drawn down $86 million in federal funds. The hospitals already have agreed to take a $59 million hit to deal with the shortfall.
The Senate budget proposal does not include the $65 million.
If that version passes, Lee Memorial could lose about $4.6 million.
“What a crazy system all of this is, but it is what it is,” said Lee Memorial President Jim Nathan on Thursday.
This potential cut is only part of what’s going on in government reimbursement. Dr. John Donaldson, chairman of Lee Memorial’s board, said the state is trying to push more patients into privatized Medicaid plans, which reimburse hospitals at a lower rate than traditional Medicaid.
“We’re already losing money on (Medicaid patients),” Donaldson said. “Now we’re going to be paid even less.”
Nathan couldn’t say how he’d make up for the losses if they come to pass.
“It’s just another thing we have to look at,” he said.
Long-term financial projections released Thursday show the system’s profits peaking this year with a projected $74 million and then tapering off, down to a projected $54 million in 2010.
“You just can’t paint a pretty picture,” Nathan said.
“That was part of the reason for the acquisition (of Gulf Coast Hospital and Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center) — just to stay ahead.”
Budget cuts might hit hospitals; Broward hospitals stand to lose $28.7 By Bob LaMendola, Staff Writer
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
April 20, 2007 — As part of budget wrangling in Tallahassee, Florida hospitals that treat large numbers of uninsured and indigent patients stand to lose $209 million -- about $34 million in Palm Beach and Broward counties.
The Florida House version of the 2007-08 state budget would cut hospital funding by $27 million, but the Senate version would eliminate the entire amount, with less than three weeks remaining for the two bodies to resolve the issue before the Legislature adjourns. Hospital officials stepped up their lobbying this week.
"We are willing to live with the House budget, but the Senate's would be very damaging," said Alan Levine, chief executive of the tax-assisted North Broward Hospital District, which runs four institutions in its turf north of Griffin Road.
Palm Beach County hospitals would lose $5.3 million, including $2.1 million at Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach. The biggest hits would be felt by hospitals that treat the most uninsured and low-income people.
Executives said the full impact would not cripple their finances, but would deplete surpluses used to upgrade buildings and equipment.
The pain would be sharper, officials said, if hospitals also must take a separate $350 million cut that would occur if the Legislature does not pass a bill on automobile personal injury protection (PIP) insurance. The bill sets out PIP money to pay hospitals for treating auto accident victims. The bill is still being debated in committees.
The budget issue centers on federal money from Medicaid, the health system for the poor. The Senate budget does not include $65 million the state uses to match federal Medicaid grants. Without the match, the state would lose $86 million in federal grants for hospitals.
"Why leave $86 million in Washington? We need that money here," said Frank Sacco, chief executive of the tax-assisted Memorial Healthcare System, whose five hospitals south of Griffin Road would lose $9.7 million. In a tight budget year, the Senate cut the hospital money after its leaders shifted money to other areas with pressing needs, said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, a member of a Senate subcommittee on health budgets.
Hospitals may lose millions; A state-federal funding problem may cause South Florida hospitals to lose more than $90 million next year By John Dorscner
The Miami Herald
April 17, 2007 — Local hospital officials warned Monday that a complicated funding problem in state government will cause them to lose tens of millions of dollars next year.
''It's pretty big and very serious,'' said Marvin O'Quinn, CEO of Jackson Memorial, which he estimates could lose $32 million.
Broward General might lose $10.8 million and Memorial Regional $8.6 million, according to the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida. Altogether, Miami-Dade County hospitals could see $66.1 million decrease in funding. The total for Broward County is $28.7 million. Statewide, the alliance estimates hospitals could lose $209 million.
Federal change
The problem started in February, when the federal government proposed changes in the ''low-income pool'' that would cause South Florida hospitals to lose $300 million a year.
Bills before Congress would put a moratorium on those cuts for two years, according to Jeanette Nuñez, Jackson's vice president for government relations.
But if the bills are passed and then signed by President George W. Bush, that would create problems with state funding, Nuñez said.
The reason: Because the state government has had a prosperous year financially, with money rolling in from higher sales tax receipts and document stamp taxes, the federal government will cut back its share of the state-federal split on the ``low-income pool.''
To make up that money, the state needs to take $65 million from its general funds to fund the pool, or the federal government will not send $144 million in matching funds -- leaving a $209 million drop that local governments will have to make up, O'Quinn said.
Health Care Safety Net Faces Severe Cuts in Senate Budget Plan
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., April 16, 2007 — PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Florida's health care safety net for the state's neediest citizens and the uninsured is facing $209 million in cuts this year under the Florida Senate's proposed budget. Furthermore, the Senate plan will forfeit $85 million in critical federal funding earmarked for Florida's health care safety net.
While Speaker Marco Rubio and the Florida House's budget provides a sufficient state match to preserve this crucial Medicaid funding, the Senate's proposed budget jeopardizes critical health programs that assist Florida's poor and uninsured.
As a result, Florida's safety net hospitals are urgently advising Senate President Ken Pruitt and Senate budget negotiators to adopt the House's position and preserve this health care safety net funding as the House and Senate begin budget negotiations this week.
If the Senate fails to support the state match, the $209 million in uncompensated health care will be shifted to the local taxpayer and the state's safety net providers -- both of which are already substantially subsidizing the state-federal Medicaid program. The cuts will erode access to health care for uninsured citizens, restrict some health services, and increase private health insurance premiums, since payers would have to pick up some of these costs.
In fact, communities and hospitals have faced growing pressures in recent years to increase their financial support for Medicaid. This year, local communities will contribute $664 million in property and other local taxes to Medicaid, while hospitals will pay about $345 million in "sick taxes" as their share of the partnership for assuring the financial viability of the Medicaid program.
Under the Senate's proposed cuts, the local tax burden for supporting the program would rise to a record $724 million statewide -- nearly a 10 percent increase -- while Medicaid payments to hospitals would be cut anywhere from 9 to 33 percent below audited costs.
"This is a very real, very serious situation for Florida's local communities and for the state's health care safety net," said Tony Carvalho, President of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida. "We greatly appreciate that Speaker Rubio and the House recognize how crucial the state's support of the safety net is, and that it will enable Florida to access critical federal matching money. The Senate must grasp that their failure to act will harm our state's neediest citizens and those who care for them."
The Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida is a group of 14 health care systems that include the state's public, teaching and children's hospitals. While the Alliance hospitals comprise just 10 percent of all hospitals statewide, these hospitals provide more than 50 percent of all the charity care delivered in the state.
The Senate's proposed cuts involve one part of the complex Medicaid program -- the state's Low Income Pool, a capped, $1 billion-a-year fund created just a year ago for the purpose of protecting hospital safety net programs under the Medicaid waiver. The Low Income Pool is used to help cover the costs of charity care and the uninsured who don't qualify for Medicaid.
Medicaid is a state-federal health care program for the poor and disabled. Under Florida's Medicaid program, the state's funding share responsibility is typically around 40 percent, and the federal government's is around 60 percent.
Hospitals lose money on every Medicaid patient they treat, because the Medicaid payments they receive are less than the actual costs of providing care. Today, only 14 percent of Medicaid hospital inpatient costs are paid from state general revenue dollars -- the lowest state share of any Medicaid service. Local communities, hospital taxes and the federal government pay the rest of the tab.
This current funding crisis evolved, in large part, because in recent years, state policymakers have systematically diverted money from the Low Income Pool -- and associated local taxes -- to cover basic Medicaid costs for hospital care. Because of that increasing reliance on local taxes, all available local funds have been used, leaving it necessary for the state to provide the additional $65 million in Medicaid matching funds to prevent major disruptions in this critical safety net program.
Speaker Rubio and House budget writers fulfill the local-state partnership with communities and safety net hospitals by providing the crucial state match in their proposed House budget. But the Senate rejected requests for the same support. If the Senate does not change its stance, Florida's safety net hospitals face the combined loss of the $65 million in state matching money, $86 million in federal matching funds and $59 million that hospitals are voluntarily diverting from hospital payments to help pay for the overall deficit -- a $209 million reduction in the current funding level.
"Safety net hospitals are committed to treating all patients, regardless of their ability to pay," said Marvin O'Quinn, President and CEO of Jackson Health System in Miami -- Florida's largest public hospital -- and board chairman of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance. "But even safety net hospitals cannot continue to offer the same level of services in the face of multi- million dollar shortfalls. These cuts hurt real people in need and the ability to provide safety net programs."
Medicare and Medicaid; Health Care Safety Net Faces Severe Cuts in Senate Budget Plan Science Letter
May 2, 2007, (NewsRx.com) — Florida's health care safety net for the state's neediest citizens and the uninsured is facing $209 million in cuts this year under the Florida Senate's proposed budget. Furthermore, the Senate plan will forfeit $85 million in critical federal funding earmarked for Florida's health care safety net.
While Speaker Marco Rubio and the Florida House's budget provides a sufficient state match to preserve this crucial Medicaid funding, the Senate's proposed budget jeopardizes critical health programs that assist Florida's poor and uninsured.
As a result, Florida's safety net hospitals are urgently advising Senate President Ken Pruitt and
Senate budget negotiators to adopt the House's position and preserve this health care safety net funding as the House and Senate begin budget negotiations this week.
If the Senate fails to support the state match, the $209 million in uncompensated health care will be shifted to the local taxpayer and the state's safety net providers -- both of which are already substantially subsidizing the state-federal Medicaid program. The cuts will erode access to health care for uninsured citizens, restrict some health services, and increase private health insurance premiums, since payers would have to pick up some of these costs.
In fact, communities and hospitals have faced growing pressures in recent years to increase their financial support for Medicaid. This year, local communities will contribute $664 million in property and other local taxes to Medicaid, while hospitals will pay about $345 million in "sick taxes" as their share of the partnership for assuring the financial viability of the Medicaid program.
Under the Senate's proposed cuts, the local tax burden for supporting the program would rise to a record $724 million statewide -- nearly a 10 percent increase -- while Medicaid payments to hospitals would be cut anywhere from 9 to 33 percent below audited costs.
"This is a very real, very serious situation for Florida's local communities and for the state's health care safety net," said Tony Carvalho, President of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida. "We greatly appreciate that Speaker Rubio and the House recognize how crucial the state's support of the safety net is, and that it will enable Florida to access critical federal matching money. The Senate must grasp that their failure to act will harm our state's neediest citizens and those who care for them."
The Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida is a group of 14 health care systems that include the state's public, teaching and children's hospitals. While the Alliance hospitals comprise just 10 percent of all hospitals statewide, these hospitals provide more than 50 percent of all the charity care delivered in the state.
The Senate's proposed cuts involve one part of the complex Medicaid program -- the state's Low Income Pool, a capped, $1 billion-a-year fund created just a year ago for the purpose of protecting hospital safety net programs under the Medicaid waiver. The Low Income Pool is used to help cover the costs of charity care and the uninsured who don't qualify for Medicaid.
Medicaid is a state-federal health care program for the poor and disabled. Under Florida's Medicaid program, the state's funding share responsibility is typically around 40 percent, and the federal government's is around 60 percent.
Hospitals lose money on every Medicaid patient they treat, because the Medicaid payments they receive are less than the actual costs of providing care. Today, only 14 percent of Medicaid hospital inpatient costs are paid from state general revenue dollars -- the lowest state share of any Medicaid service. Local communities, hospital taxes and the federal government pay the rest of the tab.
This current funding crisis evolved, in large part, because in recent years, state policymakers have systematically diverted money from the Low Income Pool -- and associated local taxes -- to cover basic Medicaid costs for hospital care. Because of that increasing reliance on local taxes, all available local funds have been used, leaving it necessary for the state to provide the additional $65 million in Medicaid matching funds to prevent major disruptions in this critical safety net program.
Speaker Rubio and House budget writers fulfill the local-state partnership with communities and safety net hospitals by providing the crucial state match in their proposed House budget. But the Senate rejected requests for the same support. If the Senate does not change its stance, Florida's safety net hospitals face the combined loss of the $65 million in state matching money, $86 million in federal matching funds and $59 million that hospitals are voluntarily diverting from hospital payments to help pay for the overall deficit -- a $209 million reduction in the current funding level.
"Safety net hospitals are committed to treating all patients, regardless of their ability to pay," said Marvin O'Quinn, President and CEO of Jackson Health System in Miami -- Florida's largest public hospital -- and board chairman of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance. "But even safety net hospitals cannot continue to offer the same level of services in the face of multi- million dollar shortfalls. These cuts hurt real people in need and the ability to provide safety net programs."
The Senate's cuts will be felt across Florida, but will hit 10 counties with large populations especially hard. They include: Dade ($66 million in cuts), Broward ($28.6 million), Duval ($20 million), Hillsborough ($17 million), Orange ($11 million), Alachua ($9.3 million), Pinellas ($7.7 million), Manatee ($6.2 million), Palm Beach ($5.2 million), and Lee ($4.6 million).
"Speaker Rubio's and the House's budget is both smart and fair," Carvalho added. "That's because the House budget eliminates the need to shift more Medicaid costs down to local communities. The House budget also maximizes the federal funding available to help Florida's neediest citizens, while maintaining Medicaid rates for safety net hospitals at close to their costs."
Money Short For Hospitals, Poor By Catherine Dolinski.
The Tampa Tribune
TALLAHASSEE, April 21, 2007 — Rep. Aaron Bean opened Friday's negotiations over the state health care budget with a warning for patients and families.
"We've come to the reality that there's going to be a lot of folks that are going to go away empty-handed," said Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, the House's main budget writer for health and human services.
It was an ominous beginning for the joint conference committee, which is negotiating hot-button funding issues such as services for the developmentally disabled. Conference meetings continue today.
Funding for the disabled has risen to the fore of the budget battles, given the $153 million projected deficit at the Agency for Persons With Disabilities and the waiting list of thousands seeking services. Talk of budget cuts prompted a rally Thursday at the Capitol of hundreds of disabled people and their families. The event drew appearances - but no promises - from Gov. Charlie Crist and several leading lawmakers.
A Reality Check
Stark reality set in quickly Friday when Bean began the conference meeting with a presentation about the Agency for Persons With Disabilities. The number of disabled people served by the agency over the years has not kept up with its rate of spending, he said.
"A lot of folks think the solution for APD is just to appropriate new money," he said. "We don't think that's a solution in itself. We think that's just treating the symptom."
Bean's initial budget offer to the Senate reduced the House's original $1.17 billion proposal for the disabilities agency by $21.9 million.
That brought the House closer to the Senate's $1 billion appropriation and the agency's current funding level of nearly $1.1 billion. It drew protest from House Minority Leader Dan Gelber, who said the state needs to spend more of its revenue to plug the troubled agency's deficit, which partly is attributed to increased demand for services.
Gelber's concern stems in part from the House and Senate plans to overhaul one of the state's programs for the disabled. More than 19,000 people are waiting to enroll in the Home and Community-Based Services program, which provides up to 33 services and therapies. The chambers have proposed differing strategies to trim spending on the program by up to $120 million.
Bean said after the conference that he was leaning toward restricting spending per person but not the kinds of services offered - a concept embodied more in the Senate's approach than the House's. The Senate proposal would affect more people.
Bean said he's not settling on either plan yet.
One big-ticket item skipped Friday was funding for hospital treatment of the poor and uninsured.
For the first time, money that local counties and hospital districts send to the state will fall short of what's needed to draw down the maximum federal match.
If Florida fails to pitch in $65 million in state dollars, hospitals will lose $86 million in federal funding for Medicaid reimbursements and charity care this year.
The House budget sufficiently fills the gap, hospital advocates said, but the Senate plan omits the state money.
Bean said House and Senate leaders intend to negotiate the issue.
Hospital care of residents on Medicaid or without insurance entails a complex intermingling of local, state and federal funding.
If the Senate refuses to provide state revenue, hospitals could lose $209 million, said Jill Chamberlin, spokeswoman for House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-Miami.
Bay Area Would Feel the Appeal
Tampa General Hospital could lose $10.67 million, and All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg risks losing $5.38 million.
"To me it's a major priority," said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston. "We need to put our general revenue in; this would hurt our hospitals too badly."
Rich is a longtime supporter of reinstating KidCare coverage of legal immigrants excluded from the state's insurance program for low-income children.
Despite the governor's support, she said, things are looking bleak.
The House agreed this year to lift the state's freeze on enrolling children of state employees and certain categories of legal immigrants, but so far it has provided funding only for the employees' children.
Covering either group of children costs the state extra because they do not qualify for federal matching dollars.
A plan to cover both groups was progressing through the Senate but hit a wall this week when a committee removed the language from its KidCare plan. Crist said Thursday he supports enrolling immigrant children, but no funding has emerged in either chamber.
Advocates said they hope House and Senate leaders will find $5 million for the initiative somewhere in the $71 billion state budget.
House and Senate negotiators are expected to take up the proposed $5 million for state employees' children next week.
Florida hospitals decry proposed Medicaid cuts Orlando Business Journal
April 18, 2007 — A coalition of Florida's safety net hospitals warn that the state Senate's proposed budget would cut their Medicaid reimbursement rates by double digits.
The Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida says a total of $209 million is needed to maintain Medicaid rates that cover 95 percent of the cost of services for hospitals in the low-income pool, which provides extra funding to hospitals that see a high number of uninsured and Medicaid patients.
The group is asking for $65 million from the state to draw $85 million in federal matching dollars. An additional $59 million would come from county governments.
The Florida House's proposed budget includes this funding, but the Senate budget does not.
The increased funding to the $1 billion low-income pool is needed because costs and utilization in the Medicaid system are increasing, said Tony Carvalho, president of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida. Of that, $724 million came from local governments, and the rest came from the state.
If the funding remains the same in the next budget year, participating Florida hospitals could lose 9 percent to 33 percent off their Medicaid reimbursements, with the largest hospitals feeling it the most, Carvalho says.
"Safety net hospitals are committed to treating all patients, regardless of their ability to pay," says Marvin O'Quinn, president and chief executive officer of Miami's Jackson Health System, the state's largest public hospital, and board chairman of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance. "But even safety net hospitals cannot continue to offer the same level of services in the face of multimillion-dollar shortfalls. These cuts hurt real people in need and the ability to provide safety net programs."
Florida hospitals are also battling proposed cuts by President George W. Bush that would slash $4 billion from federal low-income pool payments to Florida hospitals over the next five years. Several bills have been proposed in Congress to stop that from happening.
State budget includes Medicaid dollars for low-income hospital patients By Liz Freeman
Naplesnews.com
April 30, 2007 — Florida hospital officials can breathe easier now that a critical source of funding for treating uninsured patients appears intact rather than on the verge of disappearing.
State legislative leaders have drafted a budget plan for the new year, which includes $81 million to continue funding a Medicaid program that helps hospitals treating large numbers of uninsured patients.
House and Senate leaders agreed during the weekend to allocate the money to the low-income pool program, which can be used to draw down more than $1.1 billion from the federal government in Medicaid funding for hospitals.
In addition, local governments contribute $723 million to the low-income pool program.
The budget plan was expected to be presented to lawmakers Monday as they enter their final week of the session.
The $81 million for the low-income pool program theoretically could face a line-item veto of Gov. Charlie Crist, but that isn’t anticipated.
“We believe he understands the value that hospitals provide in meeting the care needs of our uninsured patients,” said Rich Rasmussen, spokesman for the Florida Hospital Association.
Lee Memorial Health System in Lee County stands to lose $4.6 million if the Legislature doesn’t act to continue funding the program. The NCH Healthcare System would lose $932,000 and Physicians Regional Medical Center-Pine Ridge would lose $69,000.
The state’s low-income pool program was on shaky ground during the legislative session when a House budget committee allocated $65 million to continue funding the program but no such appropriation came out of the Senate. That forced the issue onto Senate leaders to add into their budget plan.
The state’s low-income pool program was created one year ago with a waiver by the federal government to help hospitals that face increasing unreimbursed costs for treating the uninsured who don’t quality for traditional Medicaid.
If the Legislature was to quit funding the state match to receive the federal dollars for the program, $209 million would disappear, causing further hardship to already overwhelmed emergency rooms and trauma centers.
Officials with Lee Memorial and NCH couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.
Senate budget would cut Medicaid funding Jacksonville Business Journal
April 17, 2007 — Cuts in the Florida Senate's proposed budget would leave Duval County with $20 million less in state money for Medicaid, according to an alliance of 14 health care systems in the state.
The state's system for paying for the care of its poor and uninsured would be cut by $209 million under the Senate's proposed budget, and would forfeit $85 million in federal funding.
"This is a very real, very serious situation for Florida's local communities and for the state's health care safety net," said Tony Carvalho, president of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida.
The cuts would affect one hospital each in Clay, Flagler, Nassau and St. Johns counties, but 96 percent of the cuts in Northeast Florida are among six hospitals in Duval County. And the hardest hit would be Shands Jacksonville, which would lose $15.2 million in annual funding.
Representatives from the Safety Net Hospital Alliance are urging Senate President Ken Pruitt and Senate budget negotiators to adopt the budget proposed by the Florida House, which provides sufficient funding to preserve the federal matching funds.
