Hospitals May Get Cash Transfusion

Texas hospitals have been looking for a way to better solve the growing problem of uncompensated healthcare costs. And they feel they may have found the answer.

The Upper Payment Limit II program, which had been approved by the Nueces County Hospital District board of managers earlier this month, reimburses hospitals for the difference between what the state pays and what the federal government allows to be paid for Medicaid services.

The program could alleviate the deficit incurred by millions of lost dollars because of uninsured or underinsured patients and charity care.

The program will only work, however, if all three hospitals in Corpus Christi participate. Separately, they don’t qualify.

According to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, for the hospitals to receive the money, the hospital district will place the yearly cost of indigent care – which increases because of inflation – in an escrow account instead of directly sending the money to Memorial. The money then filters through the state level and is matched by the federal government, which pays $1.55 for every $1. For example, if the program were to start in March, the district would place the cost of 10 months – or about $21.6 million – into the account.

After being matched, it would increase to about $55.1 million and would be divided among Corpus Christi Medical Center and Driscoll or Spohn Beeville. Corpus Christi Medical Center would collect $53.4 million and the other hospital would get $1.7 million.