State Budget a Healthy Investment
Hospitals support Medicaid expansion, bolstered funds to providers

COLUMBUS—Ohio’s proposed state budget is a healthy investment in patients, jobs, Ohio’s communities and health care providers including hospitals, primary care physicians and advanced practice nurses. The budget is a healthy investment in Ohio.

The return on investment is astounding. Expanded coverage to 25,000 working parents, 3,800 pregnant women and 24,000 children provides the most vulnerable populations with access to preventive care, keeping patients in the appropriate care setting rather than driving them to hospital emergency rooms. The right care in the right setting bolsters positive outcomes for patients and reduces cost for patients and health care providers. Patients receiving basic care are less likely to develop a chronic illness.

“Access to care is the key. For instance, the statewide average charge to deliver a healthy newborn is just a couple thousand dollars, whereas a low-birth-weight, premature baby escalates charges to $75,000,” said James R. Castle, Ohio Hospital Association president and CEO.

With one in three Ohio babies covered by Medicaid and 360 preterm babies and 240 low-birth-weight babies born each week in Ohio, prenatal care is essential to a healthy outcome. There is a monetary return for Ohio as well. For instance, $1 dollar spent on prenatal care saves $3 in public funding, according to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Financial support of Ohio hospitals also contributes to economic development—an issue the state and many communities are grappling with as many Ohio industries downsize. In 2004, Ohio hospitals directly employed nearly 240,000 people and paid $11.6 billion in employee wages and benefits—monies that are spent throughout the community. Hospitals also support the tax base of communities through payroll and other taxes. When hospitals buy food or linens, or when hospital employees spend their paychecks on groceries or clothing, these purchases support other businesses and create spin-off jobs within the community.

Most importantly, adequate reimbursement helps hospitals do what they are designed to do—keep the focus on the mission. Hospitals are charged with keeping their communities safe and healthy, a 24/7 task that is made possible through the doctors, nurses, dieticians and other personnel every day of the year. The proposed budget allocation to hospitals follows four years of freezes and a cutback—approximately $300 million in cuts that jeopardized access to necessary programs such as rural obstetrics programs and urban trauma centers, which are vital services for scores of Ohioans, not just Medicaid beneficiaries. Expanded Medicaid coverage and reimbursement could also help hospitals to reduce waiting times for care, an additional benefit to all Ohioans.

The hospital community is pleased with the governor’s commitment to hospitals as quality health care providers and major economic drivers in their communities and looks forward to contributing to deliberations on the 2008-09 state budget over the coming months.

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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