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Medicare Reimbursement Issues Addressed at St. Alexius

Tom Scully, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, made a visit to North Dakota on April 16, 2003.

Joining Mr. Scully were Congressman Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota and Congressman Jerry Moran of Kansas. Both are members of the Rural Health Care Coalition.

The meeting gave health care professionals and adminstrators from across the state an opportunity to speak with Mr. Scully directly about the difficult Medicare issues that health care facilities in rural areas are facing across the country. This issue is a major concern in ND particularly as reimbursement inequitites and regulatory burdens continue to increase in rural states. “Reimbursement for the same kind of treatment varies based on where the facility is, yet the cost for supplies and equipment is the same everywhere,” states Gary Miller, St. Alexius CFO.

Congressman Pomeroy stated that Medicare will reimburse $3,988.86 in Bismarck and up to $6,460.05 in parts of New York for the same heart failure procedure.

“There is no way to justify this kind of indifference in reimbursement,” Pomeroy said. “Reimbursements should account for basic cost differences, but they should not create differences.”

“Administrator Scully plays an important role in the future of rural health care and it is good to have him visit and see first-hand the challenges facing health care providers in rural America,” says Congressman Jerry Moran, Kansas.

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