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U.S. REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS’ OFFICE URGES DEVELOPMENT OF HEALTH CARE SAFETY NET FOR ARIZONA’S MOST VULNERABLE CITIZENS

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Written on:October 12, 2011

Action called “critically important” to the survival of University of Arizona Medical Center and other hospitals

WASHINGTON – The office of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is urging top federal officials to allow development of a safety net system that would help make up for deep state budget cuts to Arizona’s Medicaid program.

“It is imperative that we protect the vulnerable citizens in Congresswoman Giffords’ district and throughout Arizona,” Pia Carusone, chief of staff to Giffords, wrote in letters to two federal officials.

Carusone also cited Arizona’s “dire state budget situation” that led to deep cuts to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid program, and said establishment of the pool is “critically important” to the survival of several Arizona hospitals.

Carusone wrote this week to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, and Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, seeking establishment of a Safety Net Care Pool in Arizona.

The pool is needed because budget cuts by the Legislature forced the state to deeply cut the amount it spends on AHCCCS. That triggered a cut in federal matching dollars that would have been available to Arizona.

Carusone pointed out that the federal government has allowed California, Florida and Massachusetts to establish Safety Net Care Pools that permit hospitals serving a disproportionate number of low-income residents to work with local governments to provide matching funds. That allows hospitals to obtain the unclaimed federal matching funds that would have come into their states.

“Arizona safety net hospitals, in partnership with their local governments, are proposing to provide local matching funds in order to obtain Medicaid dollars that will allow the maintenance of safety net services for Arizona’s most vulnerable citizens,” Carusone wrote in her letters.

The safety net hospitals are the University and South campuses of University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson and Maricopa Integrated Health Systems and Phoenix Children’s Hospital, both in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

“Ensuring the long-term viability of such care facilities has always been a top concern for the congresswoman and the proposed SNCP is critically important for their survival,” Carusone wrote.

Carusone said the hospitals and AHCCCS “work within a difficult budgetary and political environment. Please work with them to fashion the best outcome for the provision of care to vulnerable Arizonans.”

Scott Steiner, director of revenue management for the University of Arizona Health Network, said the UA hospitals will have serious financial problems without establishment of the safety net system.

“It is extremely important because the program is designed to provide reimbursement for the high number of non-revenue patients we treat,” Steiner said.

The safety net program would provide $2 in federal funds for every $1 put up by the hospitals and other local governments, such as counties, for the treatment of uninsured patients, Steiner said.

State-imposed cuts in AHCCCS that went into effect Oct. 1 are further reducing the amount of reimbursement the UA hospitals receive, Steiner said. For example, hospitals now are reimbursed only for 25 days of inpatient care per year, per patient. Steiner said it is not unusual, because UAMC treats patients with some of the most acute injuries and illnesses, for hospital stays to exceed 25 days.

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U.S. REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS’ OFFICE URGES DEVELOPMENT OF HEALTH CARE SAFETY NET FOR ARIZONA’S MOST VULNERABLE CITIZENS

Action called “critically important” to the survival of University of Arizona Medical Center and other hospitals

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