Associated Press BATON ROUGE — With the stroke of its budget-cutting pen, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration made a sweeping policy decision against maintaining Louisiana’s system of safety-net hospitals for the poor and uninsured. The Jindal administration levied two-thirds of its recent round of $523 million in Medicaid cuts on the LSU network of public hospitals and clinics. The move for the budget year that began July 1 is expected to shutter services. The depth of the cuts to the charity hospital system represents a seismic shift in how Louisiana has prioritized its health care spending. Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein tried to downplay the significance of the $329 million reduction in funding to the LSU health care system — a move that strips a quarter of its funding in a state where one in five residents is uninsured. “LSU knows that in order to step up to this challenge it cannot operate the way it has for the last several generations and reform is necessary. As the American health care system continues to change around it, we have the opportunity to reform and modernize the LSU system,” Greenstein said. While Greenstein and other Jindal appoin Read more text

July 24, 2012, 6:33 am Credit-rating house Moody’s doled out more downgrades than upgrades for nonprofit medical centers in the first quarter of 2012, says Reuters. The ratings agency said the slow pace of economic recovery, deep reductions in state spending, and the potential for Medicare and Medicaid cuts “translate into weak volumes and revenue declines” for nonprofit hospitals, prompting the pessimistic outlook. Downgrades exceeded upgrades by a ration of 1.33 to 1 among the 84 ratings Moody’s issued in the first three months of the year for nonprofit hospitals and health systems. The first quarter saw Moody’s downgrade $2.78-billion worth of nonprofit hospitals’ debt, compared to $2.11-billion that received higher marks. Article source: http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/moodys-is-pessimistic-on-nonprofit-hospitals-fiscal-health/50837 Read more text

Jul 24, 2012 Main Story: 13 States Cut Medicaid To Balance Budgets To help balance their budgets, 13 states are cutting Medicaid either by lowering fees paid to medical providers, reducing benefits, or tightening eligibility for the health insurance program for the poor and disabled. Most changes went into effect July 1, though some take effect later this year and some are pending federal approval. Kaiser Health News surveyed the 50 state Medicaid programs: Provider Cuts State Detail of Provider, Benefit or Eligibility Cuts Alabama Cut fees to doctors and dentists by 10 percent. Eliminated eyeglass coverage; limited brand name drugs for most adults to one drug a month (exempted are long-term-care patients and HIV and psychiatric drugs) through July 31, after which the limit will be four brand-name drugs a month; cut routine eye exams from once every two years to once every three. California Cut payments to private hospitals by $150 million; froze rates for payments to nursing homes; cut fees to clinical laboratories by 10 percent. Added $15 co-pay for non-emergency ER use and $1 and $3 co-pays for certain drugs. (Source: Read more text