NH hospitals say tax may cost jobs, services

When the New Hampshire Senate passed its budget last week it included a more than $250 million cut in Medicaid reimbursement payments to hospitals in the next two years. Officials say the brunt of these cuts will be felt by 13 large hospitals in the state, also known as prospective payment system hospitals. Included on the list of those hospitals are four on the Seacoast: Exeter, Portsmouth Regional, Wentworth-Douglass in Dover and Frisbie Memorial in Rochester. Mark Whitney, vice president of strategic planning for Exeter Hospital, and Glenn Klink, vice president of managed care and government relations for Exeter Health Resources, parent company of the hospital, say the cut in reimbursement is essentially a new tax for hospitals. "In essence we're being asked to pay for the Medicaid program," Klink said.