The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will select up to eight states to participate in a new voluntary all-payer model. It aims to curb health care cost growth, improve population health, and advance health equity by reducing disparities in health outcomes. CMS plans to detail requirements for the States Advancing All-Payer Health Equity Approaches and Development Model in a funding opportunity notice this fall.
Neither Tarrant County nor its hospital district, JPS Health Network, pay for ambulance rides for inmates coming from the county’s jails. Instead, those bills go to the incarcerated people themselves — and the majority can’t or won’t pay. In all, MedStar is owed about $2.6 million from transports in 2022. To stop the bleeding, MedStar has been quietly lobbying Tarrant County and JPS to share the financial burden.
On Friday, a group of U.S. senators addressed the impending cuts to the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) program. If no action is taken before Oct. 1, the program faces $8 billion cuts, which could threaten access to care across the country. The already cash-strapped hospitals can’t afford it, and shouldn’t have to, the senators wrote.
Direct pay legislation offers a substantial leap forward for our state by streamlining the reimbursement process for ambulance service providers, alleviating undue financial burdens on patients. As chair of the state Assembly Commission on Rural Resources, I’m committed to making healthcare more accessible and efficient for all New Yorkers.
By signing this bill into law, Gov. Hochul can ensure that our ambulance providers receive the support they need to continue their vital work.
The four hospitals are Baxter Health, Fulton County Hospital, Arkansas Methodist Medical Center, and Howard Memorial Hospital. Arkansas was awarded $1.57 billion in American Rescue Plan state fiscal recovery funds, and the unallocated balance will decline to $332.4 million if the Legislative Council approves these latest requests on Friday, according to Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration.
“We’re seeing across the state the implications of a really difficult financial period for hospitals,” said Brian Tabor, president of the Indians Hospital Association. “We’re also seeing increased demand with Medicaid enrollment growing substantially.” Those financial straits mean patients who used to make Beacon their first stop will instead go to other clinics and health centers. Among those impacted by this development are clients who use South Bend’s Center for the Homeless.