Without Medicaid Expansion, Hospitals Seek Long-Term Solution

Citing shortfalls in Medicaid financing and billions in annual uncompensated care costs, the president and chief executive of the Texas Hospital Association said Friday that it was time for medical facilities to join together on a long-term strategy to compensate for the program's shortcomings.

“Texas hospitals have the power to work together to propose a solution and shape our own future,” Ted Shaw, the head of the hospital association, said in a statement. “We recognize how contentious this issue is but understand the importance of a hospital-led solution to ensure that the losses are minimized and gains maximized.”

Shaw did not specify what such a solution would look like. A representative for the association said the board is considering a couple of proposals, but so far, none have gained traction. They've made it a top priority, he said, to find a solution that distributes available Medicaid financing more equitably than the current system. While Shaw praised the Texas Legislature for fully financing a pool of Medicaid payments to cover uncompensated care in the 2014-15 budget, he said hospital leaders must devise a long-term solution, because that money is fleeting.

Texas' Republican leadership decided not to expand Medicaid for low-income adults under the Affordable Care Act, saying that the program needed to be fixed, not expanded.

More at http://www.texastribune.org/2014/02/14/without-medicaid-expansion-hospitals-seek-long-ter/ .