Archbold’s amount of free care is growing, CEO says
In 2017, Archbold provided close to
"And while that does present financial challenges, we've treated everyone regardless of their ability to pay since we were founded in 1925," Mustian said.
For fiscal year 2018, Archbold received
Archbold has received
Archbold, a private, not-for-profit health system, receives no money from local government.
Mustian said increased reimbursement from any payer source would obviously be beneficial to a hospital.
According to Mustian, the
Mustian thinks leaders nationwide are concerned about financial health in today's rapidly-changing healthcare environment.
"Yet, we're doing the right things to ensure we are still able to provide health care to the communities we serve now and in the future," he added. "Whether it's decreasing reimbursements, increasing labor costs or uncompensated care, any broad financial pressure makes it more difficult to operate a health system."
Along with nearly every other hospital in the country, Mustian said, Archbold is trying hard to reduce operating costs and find areas of growth where possible.
In general, said
"This is in part due to the fact that dialysis is a high-cost portion of medical care and that Medicaid in part can be awarded based on medical bills," Hicks said. "Our practice has never refused patients for lack of insurance."
Hicks said his practice is grateful for the Lawson Neel Medbank, which provides a conduit between pharmaceutical companies, as well as the programs available through Walmart and
"While our acceptance of such patients is voluntary, the existence of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, both very supportive of dialysis, has provided a 'backstop' for our practice in that a small number of our patients end up on dialysis, which is our main service," Hicks said.
Medicaid is problematic in that for patients without immediately life-threatening medical problems, such as cancer and kidney failure, "entitlements," such as Medicaid, are less likely to be respected by their recipients, he added.
"Our 'no-insurance' patients are more likely to comply to medications and treatment strategies, as their care is more of a gift than an entitlement, and a gift can be withdrawn, whereas an entitlement cannot," Hicks said.
Medicaid for dialysis and other critically-ill patients presently meets the safety-net concept, according to Hicks.
"It has been suggested, but never implemented, that the cost of uninsured patients be tax-deductible to the providers," he said. "This might be a way to decrease the cost of Medicaid. Throughout the history of this program, it has been very difficult for the states such as
"It is also very easy to 'pad' medical costs to the Medicaid program, in part because 'the government,' rather than an individual, pays for it. This is a long-winded way of saying that medicine works poorly as a business," Hicks added. "Government programs should strengthen, rather than weaken, individual responsibility. The Medicare treatment of dialysis meets this goal. Medicaid treatment of patients without critical illnesses is less likely to encourage responsible behavior."
Hicks said there are many opinions about financial difficulties in rural hospitals.
"The fact that not every rural hospital has financial troubles reveals that the issue does not necessarily lie with expansion of government programs," he said.
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