Quoted Text

CAPITOL
Paterson seeks more outpatient care
Aim to promote preventative services, widen access
BY VALERIE BAUMAN The Associated Press

    State health officials say Gov. David Paterson’s budget plan for next year will include moving more funding and patients to less expensive outpatient care instead of longterm hospital stays.
    New York Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines said the proposal will help prevent serious illness by promoting preventive care and discouraging unnecessary, expensive hospitalizations and emergency room visits.
    The changes would also expand access to care for New Yorkers, encouraging more clinics to remain open longer and on weekends to serve the working poor who can’t afford to take time off work, he said.
    Paterson’s proposal would also cut Medicaid spending to hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies. New York spends $2,283 per patient on Medicaid — more than any other state in the country and more than twice the national average of $1,026.
    But it wouldn’t cut eligibility or coverage.
    It would change the Medicaid payment system to reimburse physicians and hospitals based on the care a patient needed and the severity of the problem.
    Some hospitals oppose the timing of the changes, saying they can’t afford additional cuts, or shifts in reimbursement during the current fiscal crisis.
    “You don’t go out and fix the roof in the middle of a hurricane,” said William Van Slyke, a spokesman for the Healthcare Association of New York State.
    But health officials said the changes are more urgent now than ever.
    “A real reform works in a time of crisis,” Daines said. “If you call it reform but it only works when you’ve got a lot more money flowing into the system, it’s really not reform — it’s spending more money.”
    New York started in this direction in 2007 under former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, redirecting about $154 million in inpatient care spending to primary care reimbursement. The exact numbers for the next fiscal year’s redirected funds are still being negotiated by the state Division of Budget. The governor plans to allocate nearly $100 million to help hospitals provide more.............................................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01300

Quoted Text

Paterson’s proposal would also cut Medicaid spending to hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies. New York spends $2,283 per patient on Medicaid — more than any other state in the country and more than twice the national average of $1,026.

So let me get this straight.....Paterson is going to cut funding to hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies but ask CLINICS to stay open longer? If he cuts medicaid to nursing homes, what will that mean for the Glendale home, which is primarily medicaid? I guess we, the taxpayer will be footing the bill, huh?

And as far as preventative care, that has been in place for years and has not shown any significant benefit. Just throwing money at a yet another taxpayer, funded government program. Where do they ever come up with these ideas?????

"Once you go taxpayer, you never go back"

Quoted from bumblethru

So let me get this straight.....Paterson is going to cut funding to hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies but ask CLINICS to stay open longer? If he cuts medicaid to nursing homes, what will that mean for the Glendale home, which is primarily medicaid? I guess we, the taxpayer will be footing the bill, huh?

And as far as preventative care, that has been in place for years and has not shown any significant benefit. Just throwing money at a yet another taxpayer, funded government program. Where do they ever come up with these ideas?????

the system is looking for 'cheaper' players--PA's, techs, aides etc.......preventative care is an oxymoron.......