Hello Mary Lu

Like many hospitals in California, Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, has finally given up on being able to negotiate a better reimbursement Medical rate with the California Medical Assistance Commission. Sources have told me negotiations started five months ago when statewide predictions started circulating that the state was going to lower the Medi-Cal reimbursement rates again. The situation has force some health care providers, in addition to Kindred Hospital in Modesto to completely drop or drastically reduce services to Medi-Cal patients this year.

Michael Landes, president of Eisenhower Medical Center’s foundation has publicly stated the hospital lost in excess of $3.5 M last year and they feel they can not absorb any additional losses and continue to give a high level of care.

Eisenhower’s decision will mainly will affect Medi-Cal patients who do not need ER care. Medi-Cal patients already in cancer treatment or physical therapy will continue to get care. Medi-Cal’s cancer detection program, Every Woman Counts for breast and cervical cancer patients will continue.

This is the tip of the iceberg as California continues to cut their reimbursement rates to hospitals to the point hospitals are unable to break even on those patients. I suspect we will see a few more hospitals do the same this year.

Tags: Eisenhower Medical Center, Medi-Cal, Medi-Cal reimbursement