Becker's Hospital Review

12 CFO / FINANCE Trump's 2020 budget proposal: 5 healthcare takeaways By Ayla Ellison P resident Donald Trump released his $4.75 trillion budget for fiscal year 2020 on March 11. e proposal, titled "A Budget for a Better America: Promises Kept. Taxpayers First," calls for reductions to Medicare and Medicaid over 10 years and in- cludes provisions related to drug pricing and many other health-related issues. Below are five healthcare-related proposals in the president's budget: 1. Discretionary funding for HHS. e budget requests $87.1 billion in discretion- ary spending for HHS, a 12 percent decrease from 2019 funding levels. 2. Efforts to curb HIV. Keeping with President Trump's promise in his State of the Union address to end the spread of HIV in the U.S. over the next decade, the budget plan calls for HHS to receive $291 million next year to help curb the spread of the virus. A large portion of the funding — $140 million — would go to the CDC to improve diagnosis and testing for HIV in areas of the U.S. where the virus is continuing to infect people not getting proper treatment. 3. Broad overhaul of Medicaid. Under the budget, nearly $1.5 trillion would be cut from Medicaid over 10 years. However, the budget seeks $1.2 trillion over the next de- cade for block grants or per-person caps that would start in 2021, according to e Wash- ington Post. e budget plan would also end funding for Medicaid expansion. 4. Medicare funding changes. Under the budget, Medicare spending would be re- duced by an estimated $800 billion over 10 years. The budget would reduce the growth of various Medicare provider payments and includes changes aimed at addressing waste and abuse in healthcare and lowering drug prices, according to The Washington Post. 5. Medical research. e plan includes a proposal to cut $897 million from the Na- tional Cancer Institute's budget and an addi- tional $1 billion in cuts to other institutes that do medical research, according to Politico. n CMS terminates Missouri hospital's Medicare contract By Ayla Ellison C MS ended its provider agreement with I-70 Community Hospital in Sweet Springs, Mo., on March 7. The critical access hospital is not in com- pliance with provisions of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, and the deficiencies "constitute an immediate threat to patient health and safety," according to the Medicare termination notice. The Medicare termination comes after I-70 Community Hospital, owned by Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS, voluntarily sus- pended its license for 90 days on Feb. 15. I-70 Community Hospital is one of several hospitals owned by EmpowerHMS that has reported financial and operating challeng- es this year. In January, the Arkansas Dem- ocrat Gazette reported that EmpowerHMS owes roughly $1.8 million in real estate and property taxes for hospitals it operates across seven states. I-70 Community Hos- pital is two years behind on property taxes and owes roughly $370,000, according to The Kansas City Star. n New York hospital settles with Cerner over billing problems: 5 things to know By Ayla Ellison G len Falls (N.Y.) Hospital has reached a settlement with Cerner over losses it sustained when Cerner's billing system did not work, according to The Post-Star. Five things to know: 1. Glens Falls Hospital President and CEO Dianne Shugrue announced the settlement in an ad in The Post-Star. However, the ad didn't include the terms of the settlement or when it was reached. 2. The hospital ran the ad after The Post-Star published a report detailing "collection issues" the hospital experienced after implementing a new Cerner billing system in November 2016. 3. According to an audit report cited by The Post-Star, Glens Falls Hospi- tal was unable to collect on $16.3 million in bills in 2016, and that num- ber rose to $54 million in 2017. The auditors attributed $38 million of the increase to "collection issues" caused by the switch to Cerner. 4. The hospital's ad said the billing problems lasted for two years. "It was a serious, short-term issue and it's fixed," Ms. Shugrue said in the ad. Ms. Shugrue told The Post-Star the terms of the hospital's settlement with Cerner are confidential. She said both parties were satisfied by the set- tlement. 5. Regarding the settlement, a Cerner spokesperson issued the follow- ing statement to Becker's: "The hospital remains a valued partner. The matter was previously resolved. We continue to work together to provide care to the community." n

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