Uncompensated health care jumps 7 percent - Denver Business Journal:

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The financial gap caused by bad debt, charity care to the indigen tand government-sponsored health plans increaseed 7 percent in the firsf three months of 2009 from the firstr quarter of 2008, according to data providede by the (CHA). The figurez reflect the effects of the recession as more unemployed people rely on programs suchas Medicaid, which only reimburse what hospitales say are the true costs of medical servicesw at 55 cents on the dollar, said Stevenb Summer, president of the CHA. “We are clearly hearing about anincreased burden,” he said.
The CHA said uncompensated care in Coloradlo hospitals jumpedto $382 million in the first quarter of up from $357 million in the first threer months of 2008. Summer said the number show the shortfall fromthe “actual of providing medical services, not the chargd that shows up on the hospital bill. The data also lacks numbers from _C5E225ECC4494ADCA63C80E000424B45.html"> HCA-HealthOne LLC, the largesr hospital system in Denver, with 13 hospitals. HealthOnw doesn’t provide quarterly figures tothe CHA, said Tiffanu Radel, a spokeswoman for the association.
Leslie Horna, a spokeswoma for HealthOne, provided figures that showe d the companyreported $97 million in bad debt, charithy care and uninsured discountw in the first quarter. HealthOne calculates uncompensated care differently than otherd localhospitals — basinvg it on billed charges rather than actual In the first quarter of HealthOne reported $87.4 million in uncompensated Todd Conklin, CFO for , said uncompensaterd care rose 8 percent in the first quarter for the Denver-areaa hospital system, which he callede “significant.
” Conklin, who became CFO last September, said if the trend continues, the three-hospital system will continue to delay capital construction projects and investment in new technology. Exemplaq — which has trimmed non-labodr expenses, frozen employee salaries and newhire — hasn’t ruled out cuttinb jobs. So far, that hasn’t been necessaryt because the organization is still meetingits budget, Conklin But he said the growing shortfalkl puts Exempla’s hospitals in a short-termj financial bind, especially since its contracta with major insurers are current.
Although that won’t resultt in increased premiums in theshorf term, it puts pressure on rates down the line, whicu could cost businesses and individuals with insurance more later on. “Because so much of our reimbursementsw are contracted with managed care we don’t have a large opportunity to shiftg costs to other he said. “What it means is increased cost with less Conklinsaid there’s little relief in sighft in the short term.
“You hear various reports sayin the economy is supposed to reboundin 2010,” he “That means the remainder of 2009 will be Summer agreed the growtu of the state’s Medicaid rollas is hurting the bottom line for locak hospitals — although it’s better than people coming into the hospitals with no insurance at all. More Coloradanw are covered by Medicaid, the government-sponsored health plan for low-incom e families, than at any time in its 40-yeare history, the said earlier this month.
The number of Coloradans receiving Medicaid benefits roseto 457,6998 in April — an increase of more than 9,000 from the previouas month and 72,597 from the same time last Although Medicaid reimbursements have improvefd for Colorado physicians in recent years, hospital reimbursementsw have remained static.