X

In March, Massena Memorial lost inpatients but gained many clinical patients

Posted 4/23/18

By ANDY GARDNER MASSENA -- As Massena Memorial Hospital loses patients because of a statewide Medicaid restructuring program, they have significantly increased the number of outpatients visiting …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

In March, Massena Memorial lost inpatients but gained many clinical patients

Posted

By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- As Massena Memorial Hospital loses patients because of a statewide Medicaid restructuring program, they have significantly increased the number of outpatients visiting their clinics.

At Monday night's Board of Managers meeting, MMH announced March numbers that showed their inpatient discharges were 159, which was 25 percent below the March 2017 total of 212. Their outpatient registrations for March came in at 11,854, 13 percent above the 10,484 in March 2017. Included in the outpatient total is the clinical volume officials touted at the meeting - 4,834 last month, 51 percent more than 3,189 in March 2017.

MMH CEO Bob Wolleben partially attributes the increases at the clinics to bringing on doctors Henri Gaboreau, who specializes in ear, nose and throat treatment and plastic surgery, and Birinder Singh, who treats hypertension and nephrology. He also pointed to the hospital taking over St. Lawrence Internists, "none of whom were working for us last March," the CEO said.

The hospital operates 13 clinics in Massena, Louisville and Brasher.

Despite the outpatient hike, a reduction in Medicaid patients and high employee healthcare costs led to the hospital taking a $159,522 loss for March. That's down from the $243,122 they lost in February.

"Admissions were down ... that was the primary driver" of the March loss, Wolleben said.

MMH is participating in a state program known as DSRIP where they work with six other North Country hospitals on measures such as reducing Medicaid admissions. Wolleben said the DSRIP program is in response to the federal government several years ago demanding $8 billion back from New York state for Medicaid. State officials convinced Washington to let them use the money to redesign the Medicaid program instead, according to Wolleben.

"The carrot that was put out by the state was if we did that as a group of hospitals, the state would funnel more money back into the region through the Medicaid program," the CEO said.

He said they have one more year of work to go before they start getting payments from the state. But the change in administration in 2016 could still lead to the feds coming to New York for the $8 billion, he told the board.

"The new administration seems to agree less with that argument and they've been chipping away ... and the day may come where they say 'we want the money,'" Wolleben said.

MMH also has a self-funded employee health insurance program, meaning they absorb the cost when their workers need treatment. Wolleben said they had some big bills last month. He also said it wouldn't work for them to go out, buy a plan from an outside carrier and pay a monthly premium.

"We've looked at that, but the cost to get started is significantly more than what we're paying now," he said.