Hospitals will profit under new Medicaid rates, Sununu says

Jul. 10—HOOKSETT — Gov. Chris Sununu aggressively fired back that his new plan to change state reimbursement to hospitals, combined with huge increases in Medicaid provider rates, will grant them tens of millions more than they currently receive.

"I'm trying to correct the misinformation on this. The amazing opportunity we are creating is the difference between management that focuses on results and management that focuses on politics," Sununu told reporters.

The president of the New Hampshire Hospital Association accused Sununu of giving only "half the story" and stuck to his claim that his members must deal with an annual $35 million cut in revenue.

"He's only telling half the story. What he is telling us is he will change how we are paid, but in the end, he will be paying out less to hospitals than he is today," said NHHA CEO Steve Ahnen.

"It's basic math."

The Executive Council approved new contracts for the three insurers that provide managed care to all those on Medicaid, the largest vendor payments made each year throughout all of state government.

For the first time, it will raise rates under Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance for the poor, to match what the federal government pays under Medicare, the insurance plan for senior citizens.

"Prevention is the best medicine," Sununu said. "By significantly raising rates and expanding Medicaid coverage for preventative services — especially during the state and country's ongoing mental health crisis — this new structure helps keep Granite Staters healthy while lowering costs across the health care system."

Sununu bristled when Executive Councilor and Democratic candidate for governor Cinde Warmington of Concord asked why he pressed forward with his request of the Biden administration that the state reduce from 91% to 80% what hospitals would be guaranteed in reimbursement under a Medicaid Enhancement Tax that hospitals pay the state in order to leverage additional federal money.

"I am not opposed to these contracts. I think that the conversation with the hospitals must happen, so we understand fully which hospitals are winners in this and which hospitals are losers," Warmington said.

Sununu said hospitals will get $76 million more in provider payments in the coming year, which more than overrides the cut in reimbursement that he announced last month after negotiations broke down between the hospitals and his administration.

"They are going to make more money in the next year, even they have to acknowledge that," Sununu said.

Ahnen said despite the provider rate increases, the state is still only guaranteeing it will pay hospitals $35 million less in the coming year than it did in 2023.

The hospital lobby exec shared a document Lippman had sent him that maintains the 13 largest hospitals would lose $35 million in net payments with the biggest hits to the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Lebanon ($7.2 million), Concord Hospital ($5.3 million) and Catholic Medical Center in Manchester ($3.9 million).

All but two of the 13 critical-access hospitals would get more money in 2025 totaling $12.1. million.

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