PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Chatodd Floyd, Senior Vice President of Legislative Affairs at Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) on Hospital Closures and Medicaid Funding
2:15:27
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3 min
Chatodd Floyd from the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) testified about the financial struggles of hospitals in New York, emphasizing the need for increased Medicaid funding to prevent closures and maintain quality healthcare services.
- 63% of New York hospitals had a deficit in 2022, with a median operating margin of -2.8%, below the 3% needed for sustainability.
- Medicaid payments lag about 30% behind the cost of care, causing hospitals to lose money on Medicaid patients.
- Despite a 4% Medicaid rate increase from the state last year, payments have been delayed, leaving hospitals in a precarious financial position.
Chatodd Floyd
2:15:27
Alright.
2:15:28
Good afternoon.
2:15:28
Committee chair, Schulman, and NRCs, as well as members of the health and hospital's committees.
2:15:33
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
2:15:36
I am Chitab Floyd, Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Greater New York Hospital Association, and I'm joined by my colleague, Andrew Tidal, Vice President of Government Affairs.
2:15:45
Greater New York proudly represents not for profit in public hospitals, health systems and continuing care providers around the Tri State region, including a 170 hospitals and health systems and 54 continuing care facilities in New York State.
2:16:00
Greater New York is committed to ensuring that no hospital has to close its doors.
2:16:05
However, after years of struggling against insurmountable challenges, some hospitals have no choice.
2:16:12
They have been suffering from chronic Medicaid under payments, rising operation no cost, including large increases in pharmaceutical expenses and abusive tactics by health insurance companies to delay and deny care.
2:16:25
We are fighting for Medicaid equity in Albany alongside our partners, 1199 SCIU, so hospitals can keep their doors open and provide quality jobs, and New Yorkers can access equitable high quality health care.
2:16:40
We are grateful for the council's support and urge you to continue standing with us to support Medicaid reimbursement rates that cover the cause delivering care.
2:16:49
While we have seen announcements for prominent hospitals and their closure plans over the past year, this is not a new situation for us.
2:16:57
It is a byproduct of years of neglect and underfunding that has long term led to the cumulative effect of Medicare cuts as well by the Affordable Care Act.
2:17:07
And today, I wanna actually discuss why we are being forced to clothe Hospitals do not close because they want to.
2:17:16
They close because they are no longer financially viable, and some hospitals simply cannot continue to operate in the red year after year without external help.
2:17:26
These institutions are under fire today.
2:17:28
And when help doesn't arrive, they are left with no choice but to shut down and cut back on services.
2:17:34
As Governor noted in her state of the state address in January, hospitals in New York are struggling financially more than the rest of the United States with 42% of facilities in New York having a deficit in 2021.
2:17:47
What she did not mention was that figure rose to 63% in 2022.
2:17:53
And we currently have a median operating margin of about 2.8%.
2:17:58
Experts actually agree that hospitals require an operating margin of at least 3% to be sustainable.
2:18:05
So simply put, we are operating at unsustainable margins here.
2:18:09
And without such a margin, they cannot invest or reinvest in patient care, services, and hospital infrastructure such as the capital improvements in IT that's critical to provide high quality health care.
2:18:22
An a fundamental issue.
Mercedes Narcisse
2:18:24
Can you try to wrap it up for me?
Chatodd Floyd
2:18:25
Absolutely.
2:18:26
The most fundamental issue is that Medicare payments are about 30% lagging behind the cost of care.
2:18:32
So for every single facility or every single patient servicing Medicaid members, that we're losing money outright.
2:18:41
We wanna make sure that we can address this.
2:18:43
We wanna thank you for the fact that you led a resolution last year's support.
2:18:48
You know, we were able to receive 4% Medicaid rate increase from the state last here, but yet that money has not actually gone out of the door.
2:18:56
All the times, we are met with delayed payments and things of that nature.
2:19:00
So even when help comes, it's often too little too late, and we're sort of kept on the margins.
