New assessment approved for rural hospitals
The state will begin taxing the gross revenues of rural hospitals the same as other hospitals are currently assessed under a bill passed by the JFC today. (AB 770)
The JFC approved the bill on a 13-3 vote, with Sen. Luther Olsen of Ripon the only Republican to vote yes.
Under the bill, the state's 59 rural hospitals -- defined as a hospital located outside a metro area that is more than a 35-mile drive from another hospital and maintaining no more than 25 beds for acute patient care -- would be assessed approximately 1.6 percent of gross revenues, as other hospitals are. Also known as critical access hospitals, the rural facilities were excluded from the hospital assessment passed in a budget repair bill last year.
The assessment became necessary because the DHS previously reimbursed critical access hospital 100 percent of MA costs. That was cut by 10 percent at the beginning of this year to allow the agency to realize $600 million in savings required as part of the 10 percent spending reduction mandated in the state budget.
The assessment will increase MA benefits funding by $27.7 million in 2010-11, and increase SEG revenues by $10.6 million in 2010-11, according to the LFB.
-- By Greg Bump



