Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
href='mailto:jhartgen@abiworld.org'>jhartgen@abiworld.org
STATE BUDGET CRISES AND HEALTH REFORMS HAVE
PUBLIC HOSPITALS FACING FUTURE RESTRUCTURINGS, ACCORDING TO ABI
JOURNAL ARTICLE
May 2, 2011, Alexandria, Va. — Public hospitals
likely face a period of financial and organizational restructuring due
to states cutting Medicaid funding to reconcile budget shortfalls and
national funding health care reforms cutting services in the near
future, according to an article in the May 2011 edition of the ABI
Journal. In “State Budget Crises, National Health Reform:
Tough Love for Public Hospitals, or Rough Road to Restructuring?,”
author Eva Anderson of AlixPartners (New York) provides
an overview of the present and future challenges of public hospitals.
Anderson’s article warns that boards and management of public
hospitals and other safety-net institutions are likely to see an
accelerated financial crunch as governors and legislators tackle their
states' fiscal year 2012 budgets, and as federal health reform eases
toward implementation on Jan. 1, 2014.
“For states dealing with back-to-back years of explosive growth in
Medicaid enrollment and escalating costs during the recession, the
pending elimination in June 2011 of enhanced federal Medicaid matching
funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is
presenting a daunting fiscal challenge,” Anderson wrote. Many
states are also cutting Medicaid distributions in order to close budget
gaps, Anderson said, adding further stress to the fragile conditions of
many safety-net and public hospitals.
Anderson does see the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act” (PPACA), signed into law by President Obama, as a potential
bright spot for public hospitals, as 32 million uninsured Americans will
be able to obtain insurance. However, she points out that the reforms
also threaten the programs that helped sustain public hospitals in the
past. “Perhaps one of the greatest challenges for public hospitals
will be competition for segments of their long-standing patient
population, which will have a broader range of care options resulting
from having insurance coverage under the PPACA.” The reforms have
also “been dulled by the realities of the current economic
situation at both the state and federal level.”
To obtain a copy of “State Budget Crises, National Health Reform:
Tough Love for Public Hospitals, or Rough Road to Restructuring?,”
published in the May 2011 issue of the ABI Journal, please
contact John Hartgen at 703-894-5935 or via email at
href='mailto:jhartgen@abiworld.org'>jhartgen@abiworld.org.
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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization
dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency.
ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased
analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than
13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders,
turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a
forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional
information on ABI, visit
href='http://www.abiworld.org/'>www.abiworld.org. For additional
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