Sullivan Introduces Legislation to Strengthen Oklahoma's Health Care Safety Net
Today, Congressman John Sullivan introduced legislation to ensure that Oklahoma hospitals and other safety net providers are able to continue providing quality care to all Oklahomans and ensure that the government is effectively and responsibly using taxpayer's money when it comes to health care programs.
"The Strengthening the Safety Net Act of 2008, H.R. 5721, will bring Oklahoma's hospitals on equal footing with other states who already receive their fair share of Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments," Sullivan said. "In addition, this legislation creates an innovative new grant program to help fund health access networks, which will bring low income and uninsured patients out of our nation's emergency rooms, where care comes at a high cost to taxpayers, and into more cost effective primary care facilities. With Oklahoma having the fourth highest rate of uninsured in the nation, it is critical that Oklahoma hospitals receive a fair distribution of DSH funds in order to care for the indigent population."
Craig Jones, President of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, voiced his support of the bill, stating: "Federal DSH funds are distributed to ensure that many of society's most vulnerable patients are able to access hospital care. This important legislation will help Oklahoma hospitals operate on more of a level playing field with other states receiving DSH funds. H.R. 5721's flexible tools will help strengthen stretched and weakened areas within the nation's overall safety net of care for the less fortunate."
Congress created the Medicaid DSH requirement in 1981 to ensure that state Medicaid programs provided adequate payments to hospitals whose patient populations are disproportionately comprised of low income Medicaid and uninsured patients. Every year, each individual state is allocated a DSH allotment, which varies considerably from state to state. Some states do not utilize their entire DSH allotment, creating a surplus of funds, which are eventually deposited back into the general treasury, not used as they were originally intended for health care. Other states are not fully reimbursed for the care they provide. In total there are 20 states that have lower DSH allotments, including Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. This legislation will redistribute the unused DSH funds to states that are not fully reimbursed because of lower DSH allotments, like Oklahoma, and increase the rate that unused DSH funds are reimbursed from the current rate of 16 percent to 19.5 percent.
"With the 16 percent rate expiring at the end of this fiscal year, it is critical that we increase this percentage so that our hospitals and taxpayers do not feel the financial strain of providing health care services to the indigent, uninsured and underserved" Sullivan said. "Oklahoma hospitals provided $325 million in uncompensated care costs in 2006. My legislation will help decrease uncompensated care costs for Oklahoma hospitals and ensure fairness among all 50 states by equally distributing unused DSH funds."
The price of treating the indigent at hospital emergency rooms is astounding compared to the cost of care found in a primary care setting. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority recently found that the cost of a claim for asthma treatment in the a primary care setting was $34.12 per claim, while the average cost for the same asthma treatment in the emergency room setting was $61.20 per claim.
"I am excited by the opportunity Congressman Sullivan's bill affords our state to continue receiving increased DSH allocations for the next five years," Mike Fogarty, CEO of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, said. "In addition, the grant program in this legislation is an exceptional way to allow local health care providers to get organized and develop innovative programs to address uncompensated care where it occurs, in the communities where people live."
H.R. 5721 also creates an innovative grant program through the Department of the Health and Human Services, which helps fund health access networks to provide high quality primary, outpatient, inpatient and specialty care to uninsured and other medically vulnerable populations. This effort will reduce the costs of treating these individuals for hospitals and taxpayers. "Without these networks in place, the majority of Oklahoma's uninsured will go without a primary health care provider, financially straining our hospitals and limiting access to quality health care," Sullivan said.
"Since this bill is being solely funded through unused federal DSH allotments, the bill utilizes funds that are currently being returned to the federal government by other states that do not use all their DSH funds," Sullivan said. "As a member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, I am proud to introduce this legislation to address health care access issues, prevention, and uncompensated health care costs for Oklahoma's indigent and underserved populations."