http://baystatehealth.com/eConsumer/bmc_01article is the website for a summary of the Federal government's (Medicaid/Medicare services and Department of Health and Human Services) settlement with 667 hospitals.
Settled in the last week, the price tag was the result of years of litigation by the hospitals against the federal government regarding their share of reimbursements for Medicare/Medicaid payments for disproportionate-share-hospital (DSH) funds.
DSH funds are paid by the government for hospitals that treat large numbers of low-income patients.
The Baystate Health website announces the victory and Chuck McLean-Shinaman, Sr. VP and Treasurer boasts that "Our financial stewardship and commitment helps support our efforts to fulfill our charitable mission..."
Charitable mission? Getting reimbursed for "charity" is not really charity, is it? We're talking about getting federal dollars here.
While covering low-income patients for hospitalization is a noble endeavor, let's not get caught up in the "charitable" word. Doing something and getting paid for it is not any concept of charity that most people have.
Clarity is the only way to really fairly communicate to people about health services. In this case, Baystate should boast that it enforced the deal that the government has created through its provisions for DSH. More noble language is not required.
While we all support the treatment of everyone, including the ever-expanding group of "low-income" patients, the years of legal bickering that amounted to heaven knows how much in attorneys fees, payments to hospitals, payout by the government, hardly amounts to charity.
