Five hospitals in the state are currently not compensated for treating this patient population, which is in violation of federal law, because the under the current formula, the state runs out of money before it can pay them, according to the report.
University Medical Center, the county hospital in Las Vegas, previously had ended its outpatient cancer treatment program due to lack of funds and had threatened to close its doors if changes were not made. Currently, officials from UMC say that they are willing to remain whole to support public and rural hospitals.
Tens of millions of county dollars and federal matching funds are distributed through a complicated funding formula to pay hospitals for treating uninsured and Medicaid patients. Cook County contributes the most into the fund at $60 million annually and had threatened to pull out of the program if their loss of benefit was too great, according to the report.
State lawmakers said in the report that they felt that providing hospitals more time rather than forcing them into a compromise would lead to a better solution.
Read the Mercury News’ report on the Nevada hospital funding delay.
