Barbara Flynn Currie.

December 4, 2008

RE: TODAY’S APPROVAL OF THE ILLINOIS HOSPITAL ASSESSMENT
PROGRAM BY THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES

NOTE: The Hospital Assessment Program will bring Illinois $3.85 billion in new federal Medicaid funds over five years, including $3.2 billion for hospitals. The program will also provide $1.3 billion – when matched by federal funds – for other Medicaid health care needs
across the state.

The Illinois Hospital Association commends all those who played a key role in partnering with the hospital community to make the new five-year Illinois Hospital Assessment Program a reality: the entire Illinois Congressional delegation, Governor Rod Blagojevich, state legislators – especially Senator Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston) and Representative Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), Illinois Healthcare and Family Services Director BarryMaram, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS).  During these turbulent economic times, when the need for health care services is growing and funding sources for health care are shrinking, the Illinois Hospital Assessment Program is essential to our state’s health care delivery system. The program will significantly improve Medicaid reimbursements for hospitals, which are far less than the costs of delivering that care, and ensures the state can play a part in helping hospitals provide essential, high quality heath care for all Illinois patients who depend on their local hospitals in addition to Medicaid beneficiaries. The program will also provide critically needed funding for other Medicaid health care needs across the state.
With this infusion of funds, our hospitals will be able to continue providing life-saving but extremely high-cost services such as trauma care, neonatal intensive care, and care for burn victims. Improved Medicaid funding helps hospitals keep pace with advances in medical technology, recruit and retain qualified nurses and doctors, and continue to improve patient safety for all who come to them for care.

The Illinois Hospital Association, with offices in Naperville and Springfield, represents 200 hospitals and health systems and the patients and communities they serve. For more information, see the web site, www.ihatoday.org.
Contact: Danny Chun, 630-276-5558; dchun@ihastaff.org.