Hospitals Cut Losses By $69 Million, Private Option Cited
by October 31, 2014 5:50 pm 125 views
Arkansas hospitals had $69.2 million less in losses due to uncompensated care in the first six months of 2014 compared to the same time period a year ago – a 56.4% reduction the Arkansas Hospital Association is attributing to the private option.
The numbers come from a survey of hospitals conducted by the AHA and the Arkansas Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association. The hospitals that responded provide almost 80% of patient services measured by revenues and admissions, a news release from the AHA reported Friday.
The study found that the number of hospital visits by uninsured patients fell 46.5% – from 9,180 admissions of uninsured patients out of 135,552 total visits in the first six months of 2013 to 4,913 hospital admissions out of 136,436 total visits during the first six months of 2014. Overall hospital admissions rose 0.7%.
According to the AHA, uninsured emergency room visits were reduced 35.5%, while total visits rose 1.8%.
The AHA is crediting the private option with the reduction in uncompensated care losses. Legislators in 2013 passed the private option, which purchases private insurance for low-income Arkansans using money intended for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. About 200,000 Arkansans have insurance as a result of the program.
“The survey now indicates that the private option is reducing uncompensated care significantly. We can safely say that the private option has saved many rural Arkansas hospitals from buckling under their growing uncompensated care burdens,” AHA President and CEO Bo Ryall said in a press release.
Critics of the program cite its uncertain future costs. While the federal government currently pays almost all of the costs now, Arkansas will eventually pay up to 10%, assuming the federal government does not change the terms.
The number of non-urgent hospital outpatient clinic visits did increase 5.8%, which the AHA attributes to an increase in patients having insurance polices through the Health Insurance Marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act. However, the total number of uninsured outpatient visits fell 36%.