HCMC is latest to reject misbegotten GAMC ‘fix’

Officials at Hennepin County Medical Center have reportedly rejected the “coordinated care organization” contract proffered by the state Department of Human Services in conjunction with the much-maligned General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) compromise bill passed by the Legislature earlier this session.

The GAMC solution reached by the Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty this year had already been rejected by major outstate hospitals and groups as a net loser; officials at those hospitals said they stood to lose more by agreeing to be regional magnets for indigent care than they would recoup from the state’s bundled payments to coordinated care providers.

What follows is the text of a resolution passed this morning at a closed-door HCMC meeting. Paul Demko will have more on this later today.

ITEM: Provide direction to staff with respect to the Coordinated Care Delivery System contract with MN Department of Human Services

WHEREAS, the State has enacted legislation changing the General Assistance Medical Care Program (“GAMC”); and

WHEREAS, the legislation anticipated the participation of hospitals statewide serving the GAMC population; and

WHEREAS, the Minnesota Department of Human Services has proposed a draft contract governing the terms of hospital participation as Coordinated Care Delivery Systems; and

WHEREAS, it now appears that most hospitals in the State will not participate in the new program; and

WHEREAS, if only a few hospitals participate, Hennepin County Medical Center (“HCMC”) likely does not have the capacity to serve the GAMC population as anticipated under the legislation; and

WHEREAS, if only a few hospitals participate, the financial risk to Hennepin County Medical Center, Hennepin County and Hennepin County taxpayers, in serving the GAMC population becomes excessive and unquantifiable, thus jeopardizing the ability of HCMC to continue its mission to provide healthcare and related services to the general public, including the indigent (see Minn. Stat. § 383B.901);

BE IT RESOLVED, that the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners does not accept the draft Coordinated Care Delivery System contract presented by the state Department of Human Services to Hennepin County Medical Center, and directs staff to work with state Department of Human Services on more flexible contractual provisions that acceptably mitigate loss to HCMC, to Hennepin County, and to Hennepin County taxpayers.