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CHCC asks for $15.5M for uncompensated care
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. is pulling no punches in its budget demands for fiscal year 2019.
Aside from the over $14 million it asked for the local share of Medicaid funds, CHCC is also asking the Legislature to fund uncompensated care to the tune of more than $15 million.
In its $29.8-million budget request for fiscal year 2019 that was approved by the CHCC board of trustees Wednesday night, $15,555,006 is under uncompensated care. That is on top of the $14,062,500 CHCC is asking the government to pay for its local share of Medicaid funds.
“Prior to all the allowances and removals from our revenue, we are projecting a little more than $86 million in revenue for [fiscal year] 2019. However if you take into account bad debts and contractual adjustments that is part of the insurance industry, uncompensated care is projected to cost us $15.5 million for fiscal year 2019. CNMI Medicaid share, which is a 45-percent share we may not receive, is $14.6 million,” CHCC chief financial officer Derek Sasamoto told the board.
Rounding out the $29.8-million budget request is $250,000 for services CHCC renders to the Department of Corrections for the care of prisoners.
Sasamoto told the board that out of the $86.2 million in revenues CHCC is projecting for FY 2019, they’re looking at revenues of only $43.5 million when one factors in bad debt and contractual adjustments.
“We’re going to ask for a significant amount from the Legislature but majority or essentially 99 percent of that is covered by the local Medicaid match and uncompensated care. Those two account for more than $29.5 million in lost revenue. So we’re going to request that from the Legislature. It is actually funds that we should be getting and costs due to uncompensated care that we’re mandated to cover, which rightfully we should ask for as $29.5 million is a large amount,” he said.
