The new California budget is finally done so hopefully money will once again begin to flow, as nothing has come from Sacramento since July 1st. ER room patients will still be seen no matter what plan they have.
It didn’t take even 24 hours for this statement to come out from this hospital after the budget announcement as the new budget still contains the 10% cuts for Medi-Cal which means a loss of matching federal funds potential. So what happens when a major source of income for a hospital dries up, reduced staffing or services usually will follow. BD
Effective today, Eisenhower Medical Center is no longer accepting Medi-Cal patients that aren't part of an HMO or in need of emergency care, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alan Williamson said.
The Rancho Mirage hospital terminated its contract with the state’s medical insurance provider for low-income, elderly and disabled patients after five months of negotiations.
“It finally became clear that they would not be able to come close to meeting what we needed in terms of covering the costs of taking care of the patients here,” Williamson said.
“It was a very difficult decision.”
Eisenhower was reimbursed $0.56 for every dollar spent on Medi-Cal patient, leading to a loss of $3.5 million every year, Williamson said.
“In today’s economy and today’s health care market, we really can’t afford to keep our doors open and provide for the rest of the patients here in our service area” with that large annual loss, he said.
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080919/NEWS01/80919027/1006/news01
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