>Hackensack University Medical Center loses appeal, millions in state reimbursement
Hackensack University Medical Center has lost a case before the state Appellate Division involving millions of dollars in state reimbursement for expenses related to educating medical residents and interns.
The Legislature’s annual appropriation of funds for graduate medical education — $60 million in the 2010 New Jersey fiscal year — is allocated by the state Medicaid division using a formula set by state law. Funding is made available to hospitals whose “utilization rate,” or the ratio of Medicaid patient days to all patient days, falls above the median.
In 2009, under the formula, Hackensack received $4.1 million. In 2010, the medical center’s utilization rate was one slot below the median. As a result it received nothing.
The hospital challenged this decision by the state agency. It repeatedly submitted additional data that it claimed showed the hospital had actually provided more Medicaid care than originally submitted. (Washburn, The Record)
