On October 22, during testimony before the State Division of the Budget (DOB), New York State Department of Health (DOH) Commissioner Richard Daines, M.D., made clear that DOH believes that Medicaid inpatient rebasing—which will have profound and, as of yet, unknown financial impact on hospitals across the State—must go forward in the next State fiscal year, despite a deep economic downturn that will necessitate Medicaid cuts and despite respectful requests by the hospital community to defer rebasing until the State’s finances are again in order. “I know that many argue for a ‘time out’ from reform because of the fiscal crisis,” Dr. Daines said, “but it is even more important that we move ahead with reform that will ensure that we are getting the highest value for the scarce resources we have available.” GNYHA is profoundly disappointed with the Commissioner’s comments because GNYHA believes that a combination of Medicaid cuts and rebasing (which is designed to update the Medicaid reimbursement system for inpatient services by updating costs from a 1981 base year to a 2005 base year) will have a destabilizing effect on an already financially struggling hospital system.     

However, GNYHA was pleased the Commissioner’s testimony addressed the need for medical malpractice reform and restructuring the Certificate of Need process, both of which he maintained will assist providers with the cost of doing business. Dr. Daines also spoke to the State’s efforts to invest more in outpatient services in hospital clinics (among other settings) and the adoption of a new payment methodology—Ambulatory Patient Groups—for outpatient and emergency departments.       

Coinciding with the hearing was the final meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) charged with studying inpatient rebasing. For details on the TAC, on which GNYHA, the Healthcare Association of New York State, Iroquois Healthcare Alliance, hospital chief executive officers, and consumer representatives, among others, have served, see Skyline News article, "Hospital Rate-Setting Technical Advisory Committee Holds Final Meeting."