Hospital Group Leader Expects More Hospitals To Drop Out of Medi-Cal

[CAL/AAEM News Service]

Hospital Group Leader Expects More Hospitals To Drop Out of Medi-Cal
 
Source: The California Healthline ( http://www.californiahealthline.org )
Date: December 12, 2007


Three California hospitals have ended their contracts with the state's Medicaid program
this month, a trend that Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Hospital Association
of Southern California, expects to continue, the Ventura County Star reports.

Simi Valley Hospital canceled its Medi-Cal contract on Friday, saying that reimbursements
were inadequate to cover the cost of services. San Joaquin Community Hospital in Kern
County and Sutter Roseville Medical Center also have ended their contracts to provide
inpatient services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries in recent weeks.

Without Medi-Cal contracts, the facilities will provide emergency services to Medi-Cal
beneficiaries but transfer the patients to other hospitals for surgeries or further
treatment. Medi-Cal will pay the hospitals on a fee-for-service basis at a higher rate
than the facilities would have received under their contracts.

Lott said that he expects more hospitals to opt out of contracts with Medi-Cal, saying,
"I have this telephone conversation every day with a hospital saying they can't take it
any longer."

Anthony Cava, a spokesperson for the Department of Health Care Services, recognized that
low reimbursement rates can make it difficult for hospitals to participate in Medi-Cal
and said that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) health care reform proposal would address
the issue by increasing Medi-Cal payments to health care providers (Kisken, Ventura
County Star, 12/12).

For more information, please visit:
http://www.californiahealthline.org/articles/2007/12/12/Hospital-Group-Leader-Expects-More-Hospitals-To-Drop-Out-of-MediCal.aspx?topicID=37

Abid Mogannam &
Brian Potts MD, MBA
Managing Editors, CAL/AAEM News Service
University of California, Irvine

The CAL/AAEM Archives are available at: http://maillists.uci.edu/mailman/public/calaaem/



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