Post by Logan on Feb 29, 2016 4:11:02 GMT -6
New battle over indigent care funds affects patients and safety net agencies in Kansas City
Good questions are being raised about how to properly use $31 million raised through Kansas City’s health levy. For the second straight year, funding for safety net agencies that care for indigent patients is an essential conversation at City Hall.
Last year the City Council properly restored funds that had been initially wrested from the agencies to funnel into excessive costs at the Fire Department. But it took a big fight by health care providers to get that outcome.
This year, Health Department Director Rex Archer and city-hired consultants have looked deeper into reports by the providers of how they spend their money.
Archer and his staff have prepared several proposals that could dramatically change funding for the agencies, based on how many encounters they have had with patients and how much the city thinks the agencies should be paid for dealing with those patients.
Read more here: www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article62789342.html
Good questions are being raised about how to properly use $31 million raised through Kansas City’s health levy. For the second straight year, funding for safety net agencies that care for indigent patients is an essential conversation at City Hall.
Last year the City Council properly restored funds that had been initially wrested from the agencies to funnel into excessive costs at the Fire Department. But it took a big fight by health care providers to get that outcome.
This year, Health Department Director Rex Archer and city-hired consultants have looked deeper into reports by the providers of how they spend their money.
Archer and his staff have prepared several proposals that could dramatically change funding for the agencies, based on how many encounters they have had with patients and how much the city thinks the agencies should be paid for dealing with those patients.
Read more here: www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article62789342.html