Official proposes bigger fees for hospitals

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s House speaker has proposed a larger fee on hospitals than the one suggested by Gov. Ted Strickland, while hospitals warn of mass layoffs and push back against what they consider to be an unfair share of the state’s economic sacrifices.

House Speaker Armond Budish of Beachwood proposed a higher hospital fee in return for larger Medicaid payments to the hospitals in a recent meeting with representatives of the Ohio Hospital Association. Budish told the association, which represents 174 Ohio hospitals and their roughly 330,000 employees, that increasing the fee from what the governor suggested would result in a gain of $200 million for hospitals.

Strickland proposed assessments of about 1.3 percent of a hospital’s operating expenditures. The fees would raise an estimated $598 million in the next two-year budget. Hospitals would receive about $187 million back through Medicaid reimbursements, leaving them with about a $411 million net loss. Hospitals have said the loss would require them to lay off about 6,800 employees statewide. Some also are concerned the new fees would end up penalizing hospitals that practice more charity care.

Budish said his proposal would cut those losses in half.

“Speaker Budish has been working to find a positive outcome for hospitals in a very difficult budget environment,” spokesman Keary McCarthy said Monday.

By implementing the hospital fee, the state can bring in about $1.37 billion more in federal money and shift state resources to other expenses in an extremely tight budget. Strickland has proposed making up for an expected $7 billion budget deficit by cutting programs, creating and raising fees and spending billions in federal economic stimulus money.

The Ohio Hospitals Association has not yet taken a formal position on Budish’s proposal because it has not seen specific legislation. The association is concerned that a cap in federal law on the amount that hospitals can receive from Medicaid payments could prevent them from receiving all the money Budish wants to give them.

“The good news is that the speaker realizes there is a problem with the current budget proposal,” said association spokeswoman Tiffany Himmelreich.