Last week, we were thrilled to receive word that the federal government has approved Washington State’s Hospital Directed Payment Program, also known as the Safety Net Assessment Program. The approval allows badly needed payments for services delivered to Medicaid patients to flow to hospitals. The news came at a critical time when many of our state’s smallest hospitals were down to only days’ worth of cash on hand and cuts in services were already being made at hospitals large and small. Approval came after months of advocacy by WSHA with support from Washington’s Congressional delegation. We’d like to thank Sen. Murray and Sen. Cantwell for their letter to CMS and Congressman Baumgartner’s staff for their engagement.
Even with this step in the right direction, payments for Medicaid and Medicare remain below the cost of delivering care. With costs for labor and supplies continuing to increase and new taxes and cuts to state payments on the horizon, hospitals will continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars each year caring for their communities. The Directed Payment Program allows the state to use an assessment on hospitals to fund a portion of the state’s funding of the Medicaid program, increasing the federal match. The program brings Medicaid reimbursement rates up to near Medicare rates, of 80 to 85% of the cost of care.
More challenges are on the horizon, including new taxes and reimbursement cuts at the state level and loss of Medicaid coverage at the federal level. We estimate these budget and policy decisions will cost hospitals and health care more than $1 billion annually when fully implemented.
This week, we celebrate one important step in maintaining access to services for Washingtonians. We will continue to advocate strongly for a sustainable health care system built on policies at all levels of government that support patient access to care.
Sincerely,
Cassie Sauer
WSHA President & CEO
cassies@wsha.org