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Hospital Community Responds to BWC Payment Plan
COLUMBUS – On behalf of Ohio’s 170 hospitals, the Ohio Hospital Association today issued its official response to the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) on the bureau’s proposed short-term plan to pay 55 percent of charges for inpatient services, a 21 percent cut, and 50 percent of charges for outpatient services, a 17 percent cut, beginning Oct. 1, 2005, and ending Dec. 31, 2006.
In a letter to Tina Kielmeyer, BWC administrator and CEO, OHA criticizes BWC’s plan, which would pay dozens of hospitals below the cost to treat injured workers. If the proposed plan is implemented, OHA cautioned BWC that hospitals may be forced to pull out of the Health Partnership Program, BWC’s managed care plan, because payments do not cover the cost of care.
Until a long-term system can be implemented, OHA recommends continuing the current hospital payment plan agreed upon earlier this year – a freeze on the 2005 rates and hospital-specific, inflation-based payment caps for 2006.
OHA’s letter to BWC is available online at www.ohanet.org/pr/resources/BWC_letter_BWC_081005.pdf.
The Ohio Hospital Association was established in 1915 and currently represents 170 hospitals and 40 health systems throughout Ohio. OHA is a membership-driven organization that provides proactive leadership to create an environment in which Ohio hospitals are successful in serving their communities. Visit OHA’s Web site at www.ohanet.org. For information on top health care issues, visit the online OHA News Media Center at www.ohanet.org/media/.
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