Once again, hospital funding is under attack. The cuts to healthcare proposed by the state and federal government are the worst that Rochester’s hospitals have seen in nearly 10 years. This is unacceptable not only for the health and safety of our patients, but because hospitals are the economic drivers of their communities.
In Rochester, the top two employers are the University of Rochester/UR Medicine and Rochester Regional Health. Rochester’s hospitals generate $6.3 billion in economic activity, $715 million in tax dollars, $524 million in community benefits and 43,000 jobs. The proposed cuts to healthcare would be devastating to our local economy.
The governor’s 30-day amendments to the executive budget, along with the loss of federal Medicaid matching grants, would reduce healthcare funding for hospitals and nursing homes by more than $1.1 billion. The cuts would eliminate Medicaid rate increases for hospitals and nursing homes, impose an across-the-board cut to Medicaid rates for all providers, and reduce funding to the Indigent Care Pool, which helps to compensate hospitals that care for uninsured and low-income patients.
The local impact would be hard to underestimate. Rochester-area hospitals would lose $38.8 million over two years. Specifically, Strong Memorial Hospital would lose $21.4 million; Rochester General Hospital would lose $6 million; Highland Hospital would lose $3.3 million; and Unity Hospital would lose $2.5 million over two years. It would result in the reduction of healthcare services and job losses. In particular, it would have an extremely negative impact on the smaller, rural hospitals outside of Rochester that are already struggling.
Strong Memorial Hospital would suffer an additional loss due to a $4.1 million cut to Graduate Medical Education for Academic Centers of Excellence. This cut unfairly targets safety-net, teaching hospitals. At a time when we are facing a nationwide shortage of physicians, this cut puts residency slots at risk. URMC is the largest source of new physicians for upstate New York, and more than 50% of our physicians stay here after their residency. Cutting funding for teaching hospitals just doesn’t make sense.
On March 5, Pandion Healthcare: Education & Advocacy and HANYS brought 45 representatives from 12 hospitals across the Rochester area to Albany to speak out against healthcare cuts in the state budget. Hospital representatives met with 13 members of the NYS Senate and Assembly. Afterwards, they joined hundreds of hospital representatives from across the state for a rally outside the Capitol chanting, “Don’t Cut Healthcare!"
The protests were heard loud and clear. The Senate and Assembly rejected nearly all of the proposed healthcare reductions in their one-house budget proposals. Pandion is extremely grateful that our local delegation recognized the impact the funding cuts would have had on our hospitals. However, the process is not over yet. The governor, Senate and Assembly must come to a “three-way” budget agreement to restore the cuts and pass the budget by April 1.
In the federal government, the president proposed massive cuts to Medicare and Medicaid for fiscal year 2020. Several programs that our hospitals and healthcare systems rely on were cut – including the 340B Drug Pricing Program, Graduate Medical Education payments, Hospital Outpatient Departments, and Disproportionate Share Hospital payments. This budget is not expected to become law because Democrats control the House of Representatives, however, we will be watching the appropriations bills very closely.
Hospitals should not have to live in constant fear of budget cuts. They provide care to patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and they drive our local economy. Pandion strongly urges our legislators to restore the funding cuts to support our hospitals, protect the two largest employers in Rochester, and ensure that all patients continue to receive excellent, high-quality healthcare.
About Pandion Healthcare: Education & Advocacy
Pandion Healthcare: Education and Advocacy is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 association whose membership is comprised of 17 hospitals and their related health systems in the nine counties of Monroe, Livingston, Ontario, Wayne, Seneca, Yates, Allegany, Steuben, and Chemung. Pandion Healthcare: Education and Advocacy works closely with the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) and the American Hospital Association (AHA), collaborating on many issues and activities.
