The shift of roughly 400,000 low-income people from no or little insurance to Medicaid, which the Christie administration chose to expand under the landmark health care law, will cost many hospitals a lot of money.
With documented charity care went from $1 billion in 2013 to $570 million in 2014, 47 hospitals will get less in the coming year and 17 will get more aid, according to the department.
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center is slated to get $32 million in charity care, a drop of $12 million. Saint Francis Medical Center in Trenton will lose nearly half of the $10 million it got this year.
Bennett said the changes reflect how the healthcare system is undergoing a major transformation.
"The results include more New Jerseyans covered by Medicaid, less need for hospitals to provide charity care, and increased need for outpatient services and wellness initiatives," Bennett said.
Just 15 hospitals reported above $10 million in documented charity care in 2014, compared to thirty-two in 2013.
Roughly 440,000 people have joined the expanded Medicaid program since January 2014. There are 1.7 million Medicaid enrollees in New Jersey.
New Jersey hospitals are legally obligated to treat uninsured patients at no or low cost, depending on their income. Hospitals receive some of this money back under a formula based on the Medicaid rate, which pays about 70 cents on the dollar.
While charity care is slated to decline by $150 million, the pool of money to train new doctors will rise by $60 million, tripling the amount spent on graduate medical education.
Many hospital representatives who were contacted Thursday said they were still reviewing the figures and were not prepared to discuss them. Others declined to comment or did not return calls and emails.
"We're still digesting the numbers released this afternoon, but with a $150 million hit to the charity care fund we knew there would be some significant reductions for individual hospitals," said Betsy Ryan, president and CEO of the New Jersey Hospital Association, which represents every hospital in the state. "We are discussing the distribution amounts with our membership to determine the impact of the charity care funding reduction along with the increase in graduate medical education funding...which is vitally important for helping our teaching hospitals prepare the next generation of healthcare professionals."
"Our hospitals very proudly continue to provide care to all regardless of their ability to pay, and that will not change," Ryan added.
Suzanne Ianni, president and CEO of the Hospital Alliance of New Jersey, which represents city "safety net" facilities, acknowledged the decline of charity care funding was inevitable as more people are insured.
But Ianni stressed that lawmakers and policy makers need to recognize that hospitals that saw more Medicaid patients are still not getting adequate reimbursement. St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, took one of the largest hits, $13.3 million, because so many patients enrolled in Medicaid.
"Bottom line is that both Charity Care and Medicaid do not reimburse appropriately," she said. "If a hospital's patient mix is comprised with many low income patients, it is extremely challenging."
Changes Proposed to Charity Care Funding
No comments:
Post a Comment