Thursday, June 12, 2014

Federal Disproportionate-Share Hospital Cuts Impact on Public Hospitals

According to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, public hospitals in California that serve the poorest patients could face a $1.54 billion funding shortfall in 2019, when federal funding cuts go into effect. California's safety-net hospitals rely heavily on federal disproportionate-share hospital (DSH) funding, which compensates them for treating the most vulnerable patients. In 2010, DSH funds paid more than half of $2 billion in DSH costs ($1.1 billion) to the 21 safety-net hospitals included in the study, with county and state funds covering the rest.

But with impending DSH cuts, the the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research estimates payments would drop to roughly $830 million to $980 million and leave hospitals struggling to cover $1.38 billion to $1.54 billion in DSH costs in 2019. As many as 4 million Californians and 30 million Americans nationwide are still likely to be uninsured at that time.

Source: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

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