Review of Hurricane Katrina Uncompensated Care Costs Claimed by Mississippi for the University of Mississippi Medical Center

摘要

In response to Hurricane Katrina, section 6201 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 authorized Federal funding for the total costs of medically necessary uncompensated care furnished to evacuees and affected individuals without other coverage in eligible States, i.e., States that provided care to such individuals under section 1115 projects. Under section 1115 of the Social Security Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved Mississippis request for demonstration authority related to Hurricane Katrina and allowed the State to reimburse providers that incurred uncompensated care costs for medically necessary services and supplies for evacuees who did not have other coverage. In accordance with the States uncompensated care pool plan, CMS authorized reimbursement from the pool for services provided from August 24, 2005, through January 31, 2006, to Katrina evacuees and affected individuals who did not have coverage under Medicare, Medicaid, the State Childrens Health Insurance Program, private insurance, State-funded health insurance programs, or public or private hurricane relief efforts. The pool was 100 percent federally funded. As of December 5, 2006, the Mississippi Division of Medicaid (the State agency) reported $63.5 million in uncompensated care reimbursement to 772 health care providers. The University of Mississippi Medical Center (the Medical Center) received $17.9 million of this reimbursement. Our objective was to determine whether the State agency claimed reimbursement for services provided by the Medical Center in accordance with the approved section 1115 demonstration and uncompensated care pool plan.