The $121.5 million will be combined with $260 million in federal Medicaid matching dollars. The General Assembly passed the original one-year, 3.52 percent assessment fee to avoid more cuts to hospital reimbursements.
While the Bredesen administration “assumes” the Tennessee Hospital Association will agree to raise the fee, THA president Craig Becker said it’s premature to predict what hospitals will do, considering they “already bailed out the state,” according to the report.
The Bredesen administration will leave office in January. State funds would fall short around $400 million if hospitals don’t agree to extend and enlarge the assessment fee.
Read the Times Free Press report on the Tennessee hospital assessment fee.
Read more on hospital finances:
–Massachusetts’ Morton Hospital and Medical Center Stops Defined-Benefit Pension Plans for Non-Union Workers
-Hospitals Show Quality Gains in Joint Commission Report
