When Medicaid patients use hospital services, the program typically reimburses hospitals for that care at a lower rate compared to patients who have commercial or private health insurance.
That creates a funding gap for places like St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, where officials say 85% of patients are insured through Medicaid.
“We start every year out with about a $130 million gap because of the way Medicaid is administered,” said Robert Brooks, hospital president and CEO.
The new city law expands an existing hospital assessment program already available to certain facilities that treat adult patients. Now, hospitals including St. Christopher’s, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Fox Chase Cancer Center will be considered for additional federal matching funds to help support their Medicaid populations.
“We’ve operated taking care of these patients for years without this additional funding, which has been very difficult,” Brooks said. “But the funding is well needed, well deserved and will definitely help this community.”
The law will not cost the city or its taxpayers any money, Parker said.
“The bill is a win, win, win,” Parker said during a bill signing ceremony at St. Christopher’s. “A win for the city’s hospitals, for our city’s health department and most importantly, for our most vulnerable residents.”
Hospital and city officials said they won’t know exactly how much more money facilities will gain through the program until the next round of state hospital assessment calculations.
But they said they’re hopeful it will generate a “significant” and “life-changing” amount for facilities that have faced financial struggles in recent years.
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