Imagine having an economic engine that contributes $12.8 billion to the state”™s economy.
Imagine this engine having a work force of 66,000-plus.
Imagine more than $7.4 billion being spent on salaries and supplies.
Imagine this industry being penalized millions of dollars.
That”™s exactly what Gov. Jodi Rell”™s deficit mitigation plan as currently proposed is doing to the state”™s 31 hospitals.
Proposed reductions include: a 5 percent cut in Medicaid provider reimbursement rates ($14.4 million); 25 percent cut in accounts for hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients ($5.3 million); non-emergency dental services for adults under Medicaid ($4.1 million); supplemental payments for prenatal care of undocumented pregnant women ($2 million); as well as other cuts and the imposing of Medicaid co-payments ($1 million).
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All totaled, it”™s $68 million in annualized cuts statewide, said Leslie Gianelli, CHA director of communications and public affairs for the Connecticut Hospital Association.
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In a statement on behalf of the association, she said:
“While continued economic challenges will require the governor and legislators to make difficult choices in the months ahead, cutting funds to hospitals is bad medicine for Connecticut. As the state”™s unemployment rate approaches 9 percent, more people are on Medicaid or without health insurance and turning to hospitals for care. Hospitals have absorbed the burden of uncompensated care and low Medicaid reimbursement rates for decades. Further cuts will harm the quality of care we expect in Connecticut. Stabilizing hospitals during tough economic times is especially important because hospitals serve as the health care safety net for the most vulnerable populations. We urge rejection of any deficit mitigation plan that includes cuts to hospitals.”
Hospitals are businesses and should be treated as such. Small businesses are already hurting from the anti-business climate that is perpetuated via higher taxes and new fees.
The ill-effects of such proposed cuts for hospitals already reeling from the economy will most certainly have deleterious effects on the communities served if lawmakers go ahead and approve them.
As Gianelli points out, hospitals serve as a safety net. They also give back to the community. In a report this past summer, the hospital association found that in 2007, hospitals in the state spent $228.8 million in uncompensated care, of which $89.1 million was defined as charity care and $139.7 million that was written off for patients who couldn”™t pay.
During that same year, the hospitals had $434.3 million in losses due to the unpaid costs of government programs; read that as shortcomings in Medicare and Medicaid payments.
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The continuous underfunding of hospitals leaves them hemorrhaging red on their financial books.
Rell set Dec. 15 for a special session of the legislature to consider her deficit mitigation plan to close the projected $466.5 million shortfall in the state budget.
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In the meantime, the association is lobbying legislators to find those who are sympathetic to the critical condition of hospitals. And in turn, lawmakers must keep in mind that adverse effects on hospitals will have potentially devastating impact on the communities they serve.
In these times of fiscal constraint every business is being forced to cut back, reduce spending and do a lot more with a lot less. Everyone must share in this burden and make some sacrifices.
We know hospitals statewide are already feeling the effects of the recession, as pointed out in a survey earlier this year by the hospital association.
Hospitals find themselves between a rock and a hard place as they are forced to postpone modernization projects and add new equipment at the same time they have seen an increase in self-pay and uninsured patients. The number of nonpaying and charity care patients is up at 75 percent of the hospitals. On top of that add more Medicaid patients coming through the doors.
Last week, six disproportionate-share hospitals in Massachusetts sued the state on below-market reimbursement rates. A lawsuit is not the sole answer to the dilemma.
Consolidation of services and purchases could help the hospitals. Perhaps now is the time for all the hospital administrators statewide to hold a summit to chart their course. Money is in short supply and the state has hospitals in its cross-hairs. Action needs to be taken.
