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Published on: 2/28/2008
Last Visited: 2/28/2008
CFO Ken Kimsal directed the board to Tom Clark, the Vice President of Finance at Alliant, who spoke on the cash flow analysis for the hospital.
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Clark said he factored in several new items that weren't covered in last month's statement.
"We just got notice last week that Medicare is going to take back the reimbursement we received on the 2005 claims to the tune of $600,000," Clark said."We converted to critical access back in December of 2005 and when we converted … you have to have a new provider number for critical access."
Clark said with the process Medicare uses, it is impossible to obtain that provider number.He said there was a delay in certifying the number.
"We called Medicare and they said to go ahead and bill the critical access claims for your old number and we'll settle on the cost report," he said.
He said Medicare gave all critical access hospitals at the time.
Clark said Medicare was notified by their superior of their incorrect way of payment and that it needed to be modified.
"Medicare now says, in order to get their funds straight, they must re-bill all these critical access claims," he said.This means Medicare patients who used the hospital as long as three years ago may be re-billed for hospital visits.
The board was noticeably upset and many asked how all Medicare patients, some with possible third-party insurance, could be found since some may have died or moved away from here.
"We have to re-bill them in order for the process to get straightened out," Clark said.
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• Clark told the board that based on the first seven months of this fiscal year, the hospital's debt is expected to increase.
"That's going to bring another $370,000 off the bottom line for losses," he said.
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