Danville are health care providers to lobby against cuts

With proposed state budget cuts looming, local doctors and nurses will visit the General As-sembly and lobby for their concerns.

Leaders at Danville Regional Medical Center already met with local representatives about budget cuts, particularly in Medicaid reimbursements.

“With the economic challenges and delay in health insurance reform, a growing number of patients are unable to pay for their health care,” CEO Jerel Humphrey of DRMC said. “These cuts create a greater financial burden for the hospital in providing care for all patients.”

Virginia faces a two-year budget shortfall of about $4 billion. The proposed budget by former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine cut about $2 billion. Without tax increases, the budget needs to be cut by another $2 billion under new Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Hospital Medicaid payment rates for inpatient services currently only cover 72 percent of the cost of care, according to a Monday news release from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Associa-tion. Because of the state’s fiscal crisis, those payments could be cut to cover just half of what it costs to treat Medicaid patients.

Yet, because the federal government matches every dollar the state spends on Medicaid, hospi-tals lose $2 for every dollar cut, the release continued. That means Virginia’s hospitals could lose $1.5 billion in Medicaid payments for inpatient services in the next two years.

Further cuts in Medicaid reimbursement would add to the of the millions of dollars DRMC already delivers in uncompensated care separate from its charity care, Humphrey said. The hospital sees more poor and uninsured patients and waits to see how federal health care reform will affect that.

Chief Nursing Office Rebekah Logan of DRMC and three other local nursing leaders will visit the General Assembly on Wednesday as part of Annual Nurses Day coordinated by the Virginia Nurses Association.

Local leaders will receive an update on legislative issues and will explore the state of nursing in Virginia and the nursing shortage. Medicaid issues and budget decisions also impact nursing.

“The nursing shortage certainly affects the ability for our citizens here to get health care,” Logan said. “Nurses are a critical part of the health-care continuum.”

On Feb. 9, Dr. Gary Miller of Cardiology Consultants of Danville and about 20 physicians and eight medical students from the 5th District will participate in one of the Medical Society of Vir-ginia’s White Coat Days. The local doctors will don white coats, be briefed on the issues and will meet with legislators regarding their concerns.

A major issue this year is cuts in Medicaid payments and services. A 2009 Medical Society of Virginia Survey estimated just a 3 percent cut in reimbursement could affect whether or not physi-cians participate in Medicaid.

Miller said stimulus funds saved Medicaid payments last year, but that resource is gone. Virginia ranks 48th nationally in Medicaid expenditures per capita.

Miller, whose practice accepts Medicaid, believes local providers would stop participating if reimbursements were cut. Physician’s offices are small businesses that need to pay their overhead and employees.

“I would hate to see patients lose access to care,” Miller said. “The people who are poor shouldn’t be punished.”

Miller suggests everyone make their voice heard to legislators and pay attention to the General Assembly as the new laws and budget cuts will affect everyone.

“Everyone should be paying attention,” Miller said. “The worst thing you can do is ignore it.”