EKB News

WEST VIRGINIA....

Appalachian Regional Healthcare Inc., a nonprofit which serves 350,000 people in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia, said Thursday it plans to sue the state of West Virginia over medical reimbursement rates that are so low they threaten the survival of its hospital in Beckley. ARH says it's given the Department of Health and Human Resources the legally required 30-day notice of its intent to sue. The West Virginia Primary Care Association has filed similar notice.

Rocco Massey, community chief executive officer of Beckley ARH, says reimbursements have been covering only two-thirds of his hospital's costs. In fiscal 2009, Beckley lost $4.8 million on Medicaid patients, who account for about 47 percent of the patient base. Another 14 percent of patients are on other government programs or are considered bad debt and charity cases.

Massey said $8.2 million of the $9.9 million of fiscal year 2009 reimbursements came from the federal government, while West Virginia put in only about $300,000 of its own funds that year for Medicaid reimbursements. Massey says, if the state had put in just $800,000 more, the federal government would have matched it with an additional $4 million.

Hospitals in southern West Virginia frequently refer patients to the U. Va., which says it is losing about $3 million a year because of Medicaid rates. The University of Virginia Health System says it will stop accepting West Virginia Medicaid patients in December.