KanCare expansion key to small rural hospitals

Saturday, March 4, 2017
Tammy Helm/Tribune photo Trevor Jacobs, left, District 4 Representative, speaks during the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce's Legislative Update Coffee held Saturday, Feb. 25. Also pictured are District 12 Sen. Caryn Tyson and District 2 Rep. Adam Lusker.

This is the second of a two-part series.

During the Legislative Update Coffee held Saturday, Feb. 25, Mercy Fort Scott Hospital President Reta Baker talked to legislators about the importance of expanding KanCare to small rural hospitals.

District 2 Rep. Adam Lusker said Kansas hospitals have missed out on federal money because the state did not expand Medicaid under the Health Care Reform Act.

Baker explained, in part, how rural hospitals have missed out on federal funding. Disproportionate Share of Hospitals is money that goes to hospitals that provide more than the average percent of care to those who are on Medicare or are unable to pay for medical care.

"Portions of that went away with the Obama care plan under the intent that states would expand Medicaid and, therefore, we would have funding to care for those individuals which we're losing under the Disproportionate Share dollars," Baker said.

Lusker said not expanding Medicare means the 150,000 working people who may not have insurance through their employer, which means the hospitals are "either not seeing them, or not getting paid to see them."

"That's why our rural hospitals ... it's vital to try to expand Medicaid," Lusker said.

He said hospitals in Kansas have missed out on three or four years of payments, which equates to several billion dollars lost statewide and the Independence hospital closed.

"We cannot afford to not have access to medical care," Lusker said.

Baker said 14 percent of the people served by the Fort Scott hospital are uninsured and can't afford healthcare.

"So when we do get them for care, they're very, very ill and it's much more expensive to provide that care," Baker said.

One attendee said if a patient on Medicaid receives $2,000 worth of services from the hospital, that patient is not billed. The hospital's share of reimbursement for that $2,000 worth of services would be close to $250.

Baker also said Brownback cut the amount of Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals by 4 percent. As a perspective payment hospital, Mercy Fort Scott does not have the same funding protection as critical access hospitals.

"That hit us pretty significantly here in Fort Scott and is dipping into capabilities of services that we provide," Baker said.

Kansas hospital are "strongly opposing" Brownback's proposal to reinstate the tax cut by taxing area hospitals that he cut the 4 percent from.

Currently, the Fort Scott hospital pays 1.83 percent on provider tax. If Brownback's proposal is passed, the Fort Scott hospital's additional cut would be $372,719 annually.