California Hospital Leaders Study Options To Boost Medi-Cal Pay
California Hospital Association officials are considering strategies to help the state qualify for additional federal funds to boost Medi-Cal reimbursements for hospitals after a recent plan for a provider tax did not win approval with CHA members, HealthLeaders Media reports.
Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program.
The provider tax proposal aimed to raise $1.8 billion that the state could have used to qualify for up to $3.6 billion in additional federal Medicaid matching funds.
The tax would have been based on patient bed days, but CHA members could not agree on how much the levy should be.
Nationwide, 43 states have adopted provider taxes in some form, and 22 states assess such taxes on hospitals (Clark, HealthLeaders Media, 4/23). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.