Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in a federal court against the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and the administration of Governor Kathleen Blanco (D) for allegedly declining to adequately pay for services covered under Medicaid, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports.
Fontenot, Woman's president and CEO, said the hospital was forced to file the lawsuit to secure the full reimbursements required by federal and state law. The lawsuit says that Woman's efforts to work with the state to increase its Medicaid reimbursements were unsuccessful despite at least 30 meetings with more than 22 members of the state Legislature and Blanco's administration. The hospital is not seeking damages but is asking the federal court to require the state to address "grossly inadequate" Medicaid reimbursements to Woman's. According to Fontenot, doing so could result in about $4 million for the hospital. "The refusal of the Department of Health and Hospitals and the governor to adequately fund the care for which the state is responsible has reached such proportions as to threaten access to many services that we provide to the community at large," Fontenot said in a statement.
0 comments :
Post a Comment