The state’s largest acute care medical safety net, Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), appears to be a power player in the latest saga involving the subsidizing of funding of indigent care in Minnesota. Last week it was reported that the legislature reached a funding deal of sorts with Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) to avert a total loss of state dollars earmarked for Minnesota’s GAMC — a move which would effectively cancel the program.

Instead, a capitated model of financing designed to encourage hospitals to create “coordinated care delivery systems” would be thought to mitigate against more wasteful alternatives in the midst of a statewide budgetary crunch. The initial rub was the decision by many smaller hospitals to opt out of receiving monies to participate in the new funding scheme — citing financial hits.

HCMC, perhaps the biggest beneficiary of funds given as part of the augmented GAMC legislation, is once again at the center of the issue, and the hospital system could be in the driver’s seat, as a result. The Level 1 trauma center, located in Minneapolis, may not be in agreement with this new plan. The Hennepin County Commission wants the state’s appropriate agency, the Dept. of Human Svcs., to tweak it further. Because of the move, other hospitals — initially on board with the new plan to continue providing indigent care — may also be following HCMC’s lead.

There appears to be a crisis afoot in publicly subsidized care for the poor, in the place you would probably least expect it — Minnesota. | LINK

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