The appropriations committee of the Georgia House of Representatives has approved a bill (H.B. 307) that would levy a provider fee of 1.45 percent on ASC and hospital net revenues.
The 1.45 percent provider fee was proposed by the Georgia Hospital Association as a way to avoid Medicaid reimbursement cuts contained within the state's proposed budget. Georgia Governor Sunny Perdue had originally proposed a 1.6 percent provider tax on hospitals, which the GHA opposed. State lawmakers, siding with hospitals, said they would not support such a fee, and, as a result, the budget was updated to include a 10.25 percent Medicaid payment cut and the elimination of a sales tax exemption for non-profit hospitals. These measures were estimated to cost hospitals in the state $274 million, according to a report by the Atlanta Business Journal.
In order to avoid such cuts, the GHA cut a back-room deal with the governor's office that would assess a 1.45 percent provider fee on all ASCs and hospitals in the state, excluding critical access, psychiatric and state-owned facilities. The fee is expected to raise $175 million, which will be deposited in the state's Indigent Care Trust Fund and will be used to obtain additional federal funding for Medicaid that would then be distributed back to providers.
The GHA said, in a letter to hospital executives (pdf), that the proposal "will preserve our hospitals' ability to continue providing for the health needs of patients in the future, while meeting the state's budget requirements." The provider fee, effective July 1, will expire after three years and be capped at 1.45 percent during that time, according to the GHA.
ASC advocates in the state, however, are angered by thee last-minute inclusion of surgery centers in the proposal.
"The GHA included the same tax on ASCs, but the ASC Society and its members were not invited to the negotiations or involved in the proposal," says Victor L. Moldovan, a partner with McGuireWoods who represents the Georgia Society of Ambulatory Surgery Centers. "The Governor's Office and House Committee Chair were told all interested parties were at the table and agreed to it, but the ASCs were not aware they had been included until HB 307 was introduced and it passed out of Committee."
Sid Moore, MD, the legislative director for the Georgia Society of ASCs, adds, "ASCs already provide the highest quality care at substantial discounts to hospitals. They also provide care to many charity patients. It is unreasonable to burden them with another tax or treat them like hospitals."
The 1.45 percent provider fee was proposed by the Georgia Hospital Association as a way to avoid Medicaid reimbursement cuts contained within the state's proposed budget. Georgia Governor Sunny Perdue had originally proposed a 1.6 percent provider tax on hospitals, which the GHA opposed. State lawmakers, siding with hospitals, said they would not support such a fee, and, as a result, the budget was updated to include a 10.25 percent Medicaid payment cut and the elimination of a sales tax exemption for non-profit hospitals. These measures were estimated to cost hospitals in the state $274 million, according to a report by the Atlanta Business Journal.
In order to avoid such cuts, the GHA cut a back-room deal with the governor's office that would assess a 1.45 percent provider fee on all ASCs and hospitals in the state, excluding critical access, psychiatric and state-owned facilities. The fee is expected to raise $175 million, which will be deposited in the state's Indigent Care Trust Fund and will be used to obtain additional federal funding for Medicaid that would then be distributed back to providers.
The GHA said, in a letter to hospital executives (pdf), that the proposal "will preserve our hospitals' ability to continue providing for the health needs of patients in the future, while meeting the state's budget requirements." The provider fee, effective July 1, will expire after three years and be capped at 1.45 percent during that time, according to the GHA.
ASC advocates in the state, however, are angered by thee last-minute inclusion of surgery centers in the proposal.
"The GHA included the same tax on ASCs, but the ASC Society and its members were not invited to the negotiations or involved in the proposal," says Victor L. Moldovan, a partner with McGuireWoods who represents the Georgia Society of Ambulatory Surgery Centers. "The Governor's Office and House Committee Chair were told all interested parties were at the table and agreed to it, but the ASCs were not aware they had been included until HB 307 was introduced and it passed out of Committee."
Sid Moore, MD, the legislative director for the Georgia Society of ASCs, adds, "ASCs already provide the highest quality care at substantial discounts to hospitals. They also provide care to many charity patients. It is unreasonable to burden them with another tax or treat them like hospitals."