NJ releases charity care funding levels

The state Department of Health and Senior Services this week released hospital-specific funding levels for state safety-net programs, including charity care, the Hospital Relief Subsidy Fund and the Graduate Medical Education Fund. The total level of funding—$961 million—is set to remain unchanged in fiscal 2013, but the state did alter the funding formula used to distribute the money. Under the new formula, hospitals will receive 90 percent of the money they received last year. The remaining 10 percent of the $675 million in charity care funding will be distributed based on documented increases or decreases in the levels of charity care provided at a given hospital.