Hospitals could escape funding cuts
A Legislative subcommittee charged with reviewing Gov. John Baldacci's budget package has rejected his proposal to reduce Medicare funding to the state's smallest hospitals, which along with other proposed cuts would have cost the hospitals millions of dollars.
The subcommittee, made up of members of the appropriations and education committees, on Wednesday turned down Baldacci's plan to reduce Medicare funding to critical access hospitals -- those hospitals with fewer than 25 beds -- from 117% to 101% of the hospital's overall cost, according to Statehouse News Service. The subcommittee also reviewed a proposal that would reduce payments to hospitals that employ doctors from 89.7% of their costs to 57%, and instead recommended the rate be set at 70%. As written by Baldacci, the proposals are estimated to cost Maine hospitals a combined $13 million in state and federal funding between now and June 30.
To deal with long-term hospital funding issues, the subcommittee recommended creating a Health Care Reform Task Force, equalizing the funding for non hospital-based physicians and hospital-based physicians and using 60% of a requested $98.8 million in federal economic stimulus money to reimburse hospitals for MaineCare payments. The state is estimated to be more than $400 million behind in those payments, according to the news service.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments