Last week, the independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare rates delivered its March report, which describes hospital profit margins that hit all-time highs in 2021 and calls attention to the $200 billion in taxpayer subsidies that provided hospitals with a cushion to get through the worst of the pandemic.
The final tally is impressive: 350-plus names of California hospitals and health systems whose leaders signed on to letters seeking state and federal help to protect access to critical health care services.
At a time when Modern Healthcare is asking whether 2022 was the worst year ever for health systems’ income, hospitals and health systems are being forced to cope with deteriorating performance among many health plans in providing prompt and fair reimbursement.
California’s hospitals are facing dire financial conditions due to huge pandemic-related losses, years of systemic state underfunding, and unprecedented inflationary pressures.
Over the past weeks and months, as CHA has been preparing its push for $1.5 billion in state relief to shore up a health care system on the edge, our messages continue to gain traction with media outlets throughout California.
The introduction this week of a bill that would raise the minimum wage for every health care worker in the state to $25 an hour comes at a time when hospitals throughout California are, literally, closing their doors or reducing the services they offer just to keep open.
So far this year, one hospital in California has already closed its doors. Several have cut services or closed departments. Others are likely not far behind. And, as the financial challenges continue to mount for your hospitals, it’s the most vulnerable patients who are suffering the most.
The latest report from nationally respected hospital consulting firm Kaufman Hall affirms the likelihood that in the coming months, even more hospitals will be forced to close or reduce services — a troubling prospect for communities throughout California and the unfortunate reality that Madera County residents already face.
In Monterey Park, 11 people were killed. In Half Moon Bay, seven more lost their lives.
“Remember upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.” — Alexander The Great In the past year, the women and men who believe in protecting the ability of California’s hospitals to fulfill their mission of caring for the ill and injured made their voices heard.
