CMS Rejects Louisiana Hospital Privatization Financing For Six Hospitals - Problem Is That The Hospital and Financing Plans Are Already In Place and Operating Illegally Now

We can of course expect an appeal here as we don’t know the exact details for the denial here other than it does not meet Federal standards so was this some type of data base check list, were there errors, who reviewed it actually, was it CMS machine learning technologies that made such a decision? There’s lots more to it.

It’s scary in the fact that the wheels are already in motion and how to pick a bad guy out of all of this? Someone will try to do it and you can see both sides with the Governor working t meet the budget numbers for Louisiana and this as a partial program to make that happen and CMS on the other side perhaps wanting more details on the situation. CMS states the Medicaid care integrity is the area they question.

Six LSU hospitals are involved in this rejection, a big deal. I can’t say that privatization is a good deal for all government functions either as we see big issues with prisons for another example of what can happen. Governments needing money just don’t operate like governments anymore it seems.

There was one LSU plan approved by CMS and wouldn’t you know it involved closing a hospital down that serves the poor and the reason stated was the facility was outdated, the Earl K. Long Medical Center. BD

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Federal officials on Friday rejected Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's financing plans for the privatization of six state-owned hospitals that care for the poor and uninsured, dealing a potentially significant blow to the state's health care operations.

The decision threatens deals that already have been used to turn over hospital management and could create massive upheaval in the state's operating budget. The Jindal administration downplayed the significance of the decision, however, saying it will appeal.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, notified the state health department that it refused to sign off on the plans. The agency said the agreements don't meet federal guidelines governing how Medicaid dollars can be spent.

Jindal didn't wait for federal approval before he shifted the hospital management, so the hospitals are now operating under financing plans that have been rejected — after being used to balance Louisiana's budget.

But only one contractual arrangement has received federal approval: a deal that shuttered LSU's Earl K. Long Medical Center in Baton Rouge and transferred most of its inpatient services to a private hospital, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/apnewsbreak-feds-reject-lsu-hospital-deals