Becker's Hospital Review

13 CFO / FINANCE California Hospital Suspends All Services, Notifies 524 Employees of Possible Layoffs By Ayla Ellison T ulare (Calif.) Regional Medical Center shut down Oct. 29, as the local health- care district is voluntarily suspending its license with the state to operate the 112- bed hospital, as well as clinics and other out- patient facilities, according to the Fresno Bee. Although the hospital officially shut down Oct. 22, the facility stopped admitting new patients earlier in the week. At a board meeting Oct. 25, Kevin Northcra, president of the Tulare Local Healthcare District, said the hospital's 23 pa- tients were being transferred to other medical facilities, according to the report. Tulare Regional Medical Center filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in late September. At that time, the hospital had zero cash in its bank accounts, and the board said the facility faced closure. In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice sent to hospital workers Oct. 25, the hospital's man- agement company, Tulare-based HealthCare Conglomerate Associates, said the "sudden and unexpected" bankruptcy filing is what prompted the company to suspend opera- tions at Tulare Regional Medical Center. Tensions have flared between HCCA and the healthcare district for months, and the district recently filed a motion in bankrupt- cy court seeking to oust HCCA. On Oct. 25, the bankruptcy court granted the district's request to sever its contract with HCCA and find a new management company. Although the transition is not slated to take place until Nov. 27, HCCA said it had to sus- pend operations at the hospital Oct. 29 be- cause of financial pressure. "Due to the district's declaration of bank- ruptcy, failure to meet its funding obligations under the [management services agreement] and the bankruptcy court's rejection of the MSA, HCCA is faced with faltering financial conditions and is forced to temporarily sus- pend all its operations at TRMC until addi- tional funding or other arrangements can be secured," states the WARN notice. HCCA said it would permanently cease op- erations at Tulare Regional Medical Center and terminate all 524 employees if the district fails to meet its funding obligations under the MSA by Nov. 27 or if the district appoints an interim operator of the hospital. e district board voted to temporarily sus- pend the hospital's license to prevent the state from shutting down the facility if HCCA ex- ited without a clear handover plan in place, according to the Valley Voice. e district has approached Fresno, Ca- lif.-based Community Medical Centers about taking over management of Tulare Regional Medical Center, but no application to transfer management has been submitted to the state. n Insurers' No. 1 Worry Right Now: Consumer Confusion By Morgan Haefner P ayers are concerned confusion among the approxi- mately 11 million Americans who are shopping the exchanges from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15 will plague open enrollment, The Washington Post reported. Here are four things to know. 1. Payers fear consumers will be confused about ongoing debate over ending the ACA's cost-sharing reduction pay- ments, which help insurers offset the cost of providing health insurance to lower-income Americans on the exchanges. In addition, insurers worry consumers will be affected by cuts to outreach and advertising for the 2018 open enrollment period. These uncertainties are amplified by President Don- ald Trump's repeated claims the ACA is "dead." 2. Kristine Grow, a spokesperson for America's Health In- surance Plans — the health insurance industry's largest trade group — told The Washington Post payers are "fo- cused on open enrollment and how do we ensure in this environment, where we've had so much uncertainty, that consumers know where to get their plans. That's kind of job No.1 as we're standing here today." 3. Further complicating the matter is a bill drafted by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., to fund CSRs for two years while also providing states more flexibility with section 1332 innovation waivers. The waivers allow states to bypass certain parts of the ACA. However, President Trump spoke in opposition of the bipartisan bill. "Whenever our members hear in the media that these things are going away, their immediate thought is 'Oh my gosh, does this affect me now?'" Melanie Coons, a spokes- person for Premera Blue Cross in Mountlake Terrace, Wash., said. "So we try to think from that perspective: what are our members going to do when all they hear is their subsidies are going away and their costs are going up?" 4. As the future of the Alexander-Murray bill remains in flux, Neil Heller, vice president of sales and marketing for Pied- mont Community Health Plan in Lynchburg, Va., said the immediate reality is influencing the plan's actions. "Until we hear differently, that's really the only course of ac- tion that we can undertake," he told The Washington Post. "In the absence of any new information, we are executing on what has been approved and what are the current re- quirements." n

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