10/28/13 Health board to vote on clinic fee increases

  • By Nick Sabo
  • October 18, 2013
  • 403
                        
SUMMARY: Fees to rise 30 - 40 percent The Holmes County Board of Health Friday Oct. 18 accepted a proposal to raise clinic fees across the board for patients of all ages. If the proposed fees are approved by the health board, a trip to the clinic will cost new patients $120, and established patients will be charged $110. The rate increases range between 30 - 40 percent over current fees, depending on the patient’s age. Holmes County Health Commissioner Dr. D.J. McFadden said it is necessary to raise the fees because of budget issues. The current fee schedule for new patients is $68.75 under one year of age, $78.75 for ages 1 - 4, 5 - 11, 40 - 64 and 65 and up. Ages 18 - 39 are charged $83.75 and ages 12 - 17 $88.75. Established patients fees are $62.50 for under one year of age, $70 for ages 1 - 11, $75 for ages 40 - 64 and 65 and older, $80 for ages 12 - 17, and $76.25 for ages 18 - 39. Fees for the travel clinic, pre-preparation physicals and insertion of IUD birth control devices will also increased. The new fees transfer costs onto the patient that were formerly subsidized by the health department. McFadden said a cost analysis of the clinic was conducted to determine the amount of costs being absorbed by the health department. The clinic may still take a hit on Medicaid reimbursements, McFadden said. “This was about seeing what we really need, asking what we know the insurance will reimburse us, and what we’ll have to write off that Medicaid doesn’t reimburse us,” McFadden said. McFadden said the health district’s budget can not continue to afford to subsidize the clinic. The rates “ended up putting our fees above some” private providers, McFadden said. He said it is a concern of the health district that the higher rates may put off some who use the clinic. Starting in 2014, most of the clinic patients should have coverage under Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act, McFadden said. The clinic’s payer mix is currently about 60 to 70 percent Medicaid, McFadden said. The health board will vote to approve the fees at a later meeting. In other business, the board accepted proposed food program inspection fees for 2014. The fees are as follows: For establishments less than 25,000 square feet; risk level one, $163, down from $205 in 2013, risk level two, $188.50, down from $230, risk level three, $393, down from $412, risk level four, $508, down from $513. For establishments of more than 25,000 square feet; risk level one, $252, down from $285, risk level two, $267, down from $300, risk level three, $1,038, up from $981, risk level four, $1,090, up from $1,037. Mobile unit fees are $150, up from $107; vending location, $24.36, up from $23.96, and temporary licenses, per day, $49.50, down from $60. McFadden said the up-and-down nature of the fees from year-to-year come from a cost methodology formula set by the state. The state looks at the cost incurred by the health department to the perform inspections, based on the last full fiscal year (in this case, 2012). McFadden said many of the rates are lower because, in 2012, much of the inspections were being carried out by Jon Croup, the health district’s director of environmental services. Each inspection is not allowed to report more than nine hours, McFadden said, regardless of how long each inspection takes. Previously, environmental services had a larger staff, McFadden said, and the hours were more spread out and indicative of the amount of time staff takes to actually perform the inspections. While the cost methodology will be a windfall for many food service operations, it will not keep up with the actual cost to the health district in 2014, McFadden said. The health board will hold a public hearing on the fees before approving them.


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load