The retooled GAMC health plan initiated due to the budget crisis in this state earlier this year appears to be at a crossroads of sorts — and it involves payments to the participating safety-net hospitals.

The discussions began because Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis has had a smaller percentage of potential patients enroll than the other three participating hospitals and, as a result, is getting paid more than twice the amount per patient.

The capitated-type payments to the hospitals which have the resources to participate in the GAMC overhaul was introduced as a way to complement patient enrollment caps to each of those participating hospitals. However, it appears that there is a breakdown in access-to-care and cost-per-patient parity, with HCMC getting the lions’ share of patients outside of the scope of its available general assistance medical funds. | LINK

Related Posts Within Doctor Pundit:

1. Minnesota Hospital May Be Ultimate Arbiter in State’s Ability to Provide Safety Net Care to Poor The state’s largest acute care medical safety net, Hennepin County...
2. Developing Story: Minnesota’s Largest Acute Care Safety Net Rejects Alternate State Proposal for Indigent Care The board of the state’s largest publicly funded acute care...
3. Hennepin Co. (MN) Med. Ctr. Agrees to Participation in Revamped Indigent Care Program The drama unfolding in the past week during which acute...
4. Minnesota’s Largest Acute Care Safety Net Announces Cuts in Care Delivery So much of what happens to safety-net healthcare delivery really...
5. One Month in, Multiple Parties Already Reporting Problems with Medicare Bidding Program Just over a month into the Medicare competitive bidding program,...