Memorial Medical Center running out of money
Print- •
-
Share
- Share this item
-
Grab the link
Copy and paste the link:
- Blog about it
- Close
- •
-
Post a Comment
- •
Favorite- •
About Medicare and Hospitals
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides funds for medically necessary services to providers of Medicare services based on cost estimates. If annual reports find that the provider was overpaid for these services, the ...
- SHOW ALL »
About Medicare and Hospitals
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides funds for medically necessary services to providers of Medicare services based on cost estimates. If annual reports find that the provider was overpaid for these services, the provider is sent a letter informing it of the overpayment and demanding reimbursement, according to the U.S. Attorneys' civil resource manual.
PORT LAVACA - Memorial Medical Center may run out of cash reserves by the end of the year, hospital officials said at Tuesday's board meeting.
The hospital's finances have been dwindling since it paid Medicare $785,000 because the federal government found that it had overpaid Memorial Medical Center in 2007 and 2008.
The hospital has lost $1.8 million this year, which includes other money it had to repay Medicare and Medicaid, Chief Executive Officer David Contreras said. Contreras was hired in July.
"We're not in as strong a position as other hospitals to weather these sorts of storms," Chief Financial Officer Rhett Fricke said. "Most likely we're going to deplete our cash reserves sometime probably by the end of next month. There are going to be decisions based on current activity levels to get us through this period."
In case the hospital runs out of cash reserves, it may look to the county government to bail them out. The assistance would be temporary because Fricke said he expects to recoup most, if not all, the money it paid Medicare based on a simulation of its activity with Medicare and Medicaid in 2009.
The hospital could file its cost report for 2010 earlier than it had in prior years to receive the money faster.
Should the hospital recoup money, Fricke said, he expects it by late summer or early fall.
Cash on hand, the amount of money the hospital keeps in reserves, is expected to drop to 8.5 days after next payroll, Fricke said.
