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Hospital Group Claims Pataki Budget Plan Will Worsen Health-Care Crisis

Posted on: Monday, 13 March 2006, 03:04 CST

By Butterfield, L J

As Westchester County business groups seek to restore funding and solve the healthcare crisis involving not-for-profit hospitals in the county, a new study by The Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) claims that Gov. George Pataki's 2006-07 budget proposal will worsen the hospital crisis.

It also claims that it would complicate efforts to reverse a 2002 court ruling that has limited the power of the state Department of Insurance in controlling and approving health insurance rates.

"Years of governmental payment cuts and freezes have resulted in a cost shift to the private sector that contributes to rising health insurance premiums, accelerates the disenrollment from insurance of employed workers, and ultimately increases Medicaid costs as people shift to public coverage," Daniel Sisto, president of HANYS, said in a statement.

Reimbursement rates in the state are controlled by private health insurance carriers who are not required to adhere to uniform coding requirements. This has had the result of placing the state reimbursement rates among the lowest in the country, with HMO reimbursement rates 35 percent lower than across the border in neighboring Connecticut.

The study by HANYS claims that under the proposal, 229 not- forprofit hospitals in New York will lose a total of $431 million over the next year.

"The president's budget calls for Medicare provider cuts that would reduce reimbursement to New York hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies and inpatient rehabilitation facilities and units by more than $700 million over five years," Sisto said.

"We and other health-care providers will work hard to block this proposal," said William Van Slyke, spokesman for HANYS.

And there is a time crunch.

The new budget is scheduled to be enacted on April 1 and "we are expecting the state budget to be on time," Van Slyke said.

"It's all going to culminate at a rally on March 8. We expect 3,000 to 4,000 care providers from all over the state, including Westchester, to join us and say 'enough is enough,"' Van Slyke said. "Hospitals are on life support, they have seven years of losses."

STORM BREWING IN WESTCHESTER

Westchester hospitals will be impacted by $34.65 million overall over a 12-month period. The hospitals are:

* Phelps Memorial Hospital Center - $577,000.

* Sound Shore Medical Center of Westchester - $2.89 million.

* All four New York Presbyterian hospitals - $15.4 million.

* Saint Joseph's Medical Center $1.32 million.

* Northern Westchester Hospital$172,000.

* All divisions of St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center - $4.08 million.

* Westchester Medical Center - $4.65 million.

* White Plains Hospital Center $386,000.

* Riverside Health Care System - $2.8 million.

"Today, many of our hospitals are barely staying afloat, and what they and their patients need from the governor is a lifeline; they need investment and support. Instead, the governor, as he has done numerous times in the past, has proposed senseless funding cuts that will only drag vulnerable hospitals down further, imperiling the communities they serve," Sisto said. "Make no mistake-this annual budget battle is critically important and the proposed cuts would cripple the health-care system."

This hit comes as the Westchester County Association, among other groups, are struggling to come up with a solution to reverse the flow of red ink from hospitals in Westchester, which already have a critical situation of loss. The slumping reimbursement rates from health-care providers and rising operating costs combined with the governor's budget formula has the potential to create what might be called the perfect storm for health care in the county.

William Mooney Jr., president of the WCA, is hopeful that local legislators will join the crusade.

I asked the question point blank to local legislators if they would be supportive - everyone said they would be very supportive."

Support for this initiative depends upon the perception of where the money is going and whether New York is not as regulated in the health field as other states.

I think that regular folks think about copays and insurance premiums. When people think more globally the question is: where is the money going," Van Slyke said.

"That's the $64 question," Mooney said.

The answer may He in the comparison of profits between hospitals and private health insurance carriers.

"It's not necessarily to hospitals," Van Slyke said.

Copyright Westfair Communications Feb 13, 2006

Source: Westchester County Business Journal

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