FLAGLER HOSPITAL AUDIT BY STATE OF FLORIDA -- Three cheers!

St. Augustine, Green Cove Springs hospitals face state audit
Posted: August 12, 2015 - 7:33pm
By TIA MITCHELL
tia.mitchell@jacksonville.com
Hospitals in St. Augustine and Green Cove Springs are among 31 statewide that will now be audited because they did not respond to Gov. Rick Scott’s request for financial data quickly enough.
Scott’s Agency for Health Care Administration has asked hospitals to provide proof their Medicaid reimbursement rates had not grown larger than the contracts they had negotiated with providers and that they were getting paid above caps outlined in state law. Twenty-four hospitals did not meet the Aug. 1 deadline and another seven never responded to the request at all.
St. Augustine’s Flagler Hospital and Kindred Hospital North Florida, a rehab facility in Green Cove Springs, were among those who provided late responses.
Liz Dudek, AHCA’s secretary, told the governor’s Commission on Healthcare and Hospital Funding Wednesday that the audit will help determine if any hospitals are earning too much money and therefore costing taxpayers more money through the Medicaid program.
In the hospitals that were responsive, Dudek said, there is already evidence that hospitals are charging too much and could be cited for violations or forced to renegotiate their rates.
“We want to make sure that they are in compliance of the law and we want to do everything to make sure that the payments that are being made are reasonable,” Dudek said.
Scott created the commission earlier this year to look into hospital spending and finances shortly after the contentious debate over Medicaid expansion, which Scott opposes. The group is expected to come up with a list of recommendations for Scott and the Legislature on how to reduce health care costs to the state.