At the request of HASC, Orange County Health Care Agency (HCA) officials have reconsidered a plan to utilize funding from the MSI Hospital Pool to pay for CMS-mandated increases in physician payments, and reversed that decision for the 2012-13 program year.HASC has requested clarity as to whether this new decision will also apply during the first six months of 2013-14 (the MSI and LIHP programs end on December 31 of this year).

The HASC protest of HCA plans was based on more than $20 million in diversions from the Hospital Pool earlier in the year to pay HIV-related pharmacy and FQHC costs, which contributed to more than $200 million in actual-cost losses incurred by hospitals in the County’s 2012-13 program. HASC has also questioned the County’s authority to divert the funds under the terms of their Agreements as well as staff’s ability to take these actions without Board of Supervisors approval, and has suggested that diversions of this magnitude should have triggered the formal notification processes outlined in the agreement.

County projections show that notwithstanding appropriations approved by the Board of Supervisors specifically for hospital payments, hospitals will be paid 13-14 cents on the dollar of actual cost in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 MSI/LIHP program years.

Contact: Julie Puentes
(714) 663-0294, jpuentes@hasc.org