Healthcare provider margins in Medicaid expansion state AR vs no expansion MO

[IADEMO2004]

Last edited Sat Jun 11, 2016, 08:12 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.kmaland.com/news/hospital-system-called-a-living-medicaid-expansion-experiment/article_999cabea-2efe-11e6-a8e9-6760c44b1340.html

Lawmakers in Missouri have not approved a comprehensive expansion plan, but neighboring Arkansas has. That failure to expand is leaving a big dent in budgets of hospitals in some communities, according to a new report by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

Paul Taylor, CEO of the Ozarks Community Hospital system, says Arkansas expanded Medicaid in 2014 and the percentage of uninsured patients being treated has dropped to below 10, but in Missouri the number has increased to between 40 and 45 percent in some emergency rooms

Taylor calls the Ozarks Community Hospital system a "living experiment" when it comes to the expansion of Medicaid.

"If it weren't for the positive operating margin we're experiencing in Arkansas, the entire system would be out of business," says Taylor. "The positive operating margin we're experiencing in Arkansas, we're using to subsidize the Missouri operation so we can continue in business."

Georgetown Report pdf

http://ccf.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Medicaid_hospitals-clinics-June-2016.pdf

[pnwmom]

1. I think you meant "Medicaid expansion state." n/t

[IADEMO2004]

2. and I know better than that. Thank You