St. Francis Medical Center, based in Monroe, La., is considering closing its most expensive critical care units due to insufficient Medicaid reimbursement, according to The News Star.
The 550-bed hospital opted not to consolidate its downtown and northern Monroe campuses last month, despite a $27 million deficit in 2013, according to Scott Wester, the hospital's interim CEO. However, the hospital cannot sustain such a large deficit and may have to close critical care units or terminate its Medicaid contract with the state, Mr. Wester told The News Star. The critical care units that would be cut without additional state funding include the neonatal intensive care unit, the pediatric intensive care unit, the inpatient dialysis unit and psychiatric services, according to the report.
Other area hospitals receive up to $500 more per patient per day in Medicaid reimbursements than St. Francis, according to Mr. Wester.
"Our argument all along has been to give us an equal playing field," Mr. Wester told The News Star. "But still to this day we've seen no relief."
Medicaid reimbursement rates have not been adjusted since the mid-1990s, due to a lack of new program funding, Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Kathy Kliebert said in the report.
Other options for the critical care services exist in the market, Ms. Kliebert told The News Star. However, she said Mr. Wester never mentioned closing the NICU before.
"We're not making rash decisions, but we have to make hard decisions to preserve the future of the hospital and the care it has provided in northeastern Louisiana for more than a century," Mr. Wester said in the report.
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