CA safety-net hospitals 'at risk' under health system changes

Safety-net hospitals serve a higher percentage of the uninsured, and low-income patients who have Medi-Cal. Jan Emerson-Shea with the California Hospital Association says these hospitals often don't have enough patients with higher-paying commercial insurance to offset losses. "While Medi-Cal does provide some level of reimbursement to hospitals, we still lose significant amounts of money on every Medi-Cal patient we treat," she says. Emerson-Shea says recent changes are adding to the burden. Payments to hospitals are being cut under the Affordable Care Act and through federal sequestration. At the same time, Medi-Cal reimbursements are going down. And the providers are responsible for expensive seismic retrofits and electronic health record systems.