Poliquin pushing VA to deliver overdue payments to Maine hospitals

Courtesy / Office of U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-2nd District Maine, shown at center, leads a roundtable discussion Monday attended by leaders of several Maine hospitals and officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The discussion centered on how late payments from the VA are hurting Maine hospitals.

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By Staff

U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-2nd District Maine, hosted a meeting Monday attended by leaders from several Maine hospitals, national officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs and others to discuss how late payments from the VA are hurting Maine hospitals.

Maine Public reported that the VA owes more than $10 million in back payments to Maine hospitals. "26 of the 36 hospitals in this state are struggling financially," Rod Boula, CEO at Calais Regional Hospital, told Maine Public. "Three hospitals have closed in Maine since 2013. We don't want to be the fourth, fifth or sixth. We don't want to be closed at all. We want to remain open."

In a news release posted on his website, Poliquin stated: “When I first learned of the millions of dollars of outstanding payments owed to our hospitals in Maine by the VA, I was shocked and knew we needed to immediately take action. For many of our rural, local hospitals, completing these outstanding payments is extremely important, not just so our veterans can continue to receive care closer to home, but so our hospitals can get these much-needed payments and revenue and can continue to provide for the local communities they serve.”

Poliquin, who is now co-chairman of the Bipartisan Rural Hospitals Caucus in the U.S. Congress, said Monday’s roundtable focused on late payments for services the hospitals provided through the VA Choice Program, in which veterans can opt to receive care closer to home at a nearby health center instead of traveling to a distant VA facility.

“Getting Maine’s hospitals their overdue payments from the VA will not only help our Veterans get access to care, but will pour needed, important revenue directly into Maine’s local and rural hospitals so all citizens of those areas can continue to receive care from their local hospitals,” Poliquin stated. “Today’s discussions, between leaders of hospitals across our State and officials at the national VA, were very important in figuring out how the VA can promptly get our hospitals the money they are owed and in outlining ways to help prevent this kind of backlog going forward.”

In launching the bipartisan rural hospitals caucus, Poliquin said he was looking forward to working with Democrat Collin Peterson from Minnesota “to find ways in Congress to best support our local, rural health centers.”

In his news release, Poliquin said “the VA needs to complete the outstanding payments that are owed to Maine’s hospitals promptly. This is critical because completing these payments provides needed funding directly into Maine local hospitals.”

He also said the VA needs to work to improve and reform its claims and payments processes to prevent delayed payments to Maine’s hospitals in the future.