Once again, CHKD’s finances face threat [Virginian – Pilot]
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WHEN A PARENT brings her sick - and uninsured - toddler to
It's a system that has long been in place at the hospital, the commonwealth's only free-standing, full-service pediatric facility. It's a system that has allowed CHKD to treat some of the most ill and vulnerable children without forcing families to worry about falling into bankruptcy or pushing the hospital itself into insolvency.
Hospital administrators have been able to fulfill that mission in large part due to the nature of the health care system - before the approval of the Affordable Care Act.
But one of the unintended consequences of the health insurance reform bill is that it failed to take into consideration organizations like CHKD, which have sustained operations with the help of a stream of federal revenue. That money is set to disappear over the next six years.
"Disproportionate share" payments are designed to help hospitals recoup some of the costs associated with providing care to uninsured patients. Last year, hospitals in
CHKD received
The Affordable Care Act assumes that as states expand enrollment in
The difference between CHKD and other hospitals, however, is that CHKD treats few, if any, uninsured patients. The disproportionate share, or DSH, funds are used to help balance the hospital's
"There will be very few newly insured children from which a new revenue stream can come, but the loss of the DSH funds will be significant,"
Even if the state decides to expand
The effort to secure funding for CHKD during the legislative session has become an annual affair, one compounded by the economic downturn and competing interests for scarce state dollars.
But
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