The funding formula in Florida’s Medicaid reform law means hospitals across the state will see millions of dollars in cuts, the Tampa Bay Times reports, while a handful will see funding increase (paywall alert).
Safety net hospitals as a group are expected to see cuts of $300 million under the new payment formula that in essence penalizes communities that have a local sales tax to benefit health care. Counties including Hernando and Pasco, which don't have such a tax, would gain money under the new formula, according to the Times.
The hardest hit are hospitals in Miami-Dade County, which will lose $218 million. Miami’s public Jackson Memorial alone is expected to lose $140 million. In the Tampa Bay area, losses total $133 million, the Times reports. The area's non-profit BayCare Health chain is set to lose $60 million, according to the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida that conducted the analysis.
Lawmakers who worked to pass the overhaul of the law in 2011 now say the legislature ought to rework the complicated formula.