Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE NEW IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • COVID-19
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Digital Health
  • Insights
    • ACA 10 Years After
    • Best Practices
    • Special Reports
    • Innovations
  • Data/Lists
    • Rankings/Lists
    • Interactive Databases
    • Data Points
  • Op-Ed
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Awards
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
    • Women in Healthcare
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
    • - Leaders to Watch
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Women Leaders
    • - Women to Watch
  • Events
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Transformation Summit
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Strategic Marketing
    • - Virtual Health
  • Listen
    • Podcast - Next Up
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • MORE +
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Medicaid
March 16, 2013 01:00 AM

Regional News/South: Florida hospitals lobby state government to expand Medicaid, and other news

Modern Healthcare
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    AP PHOTO
    Florida State Sen. Joe Negron, chairman of the committee that rejected a proposal to expand Medicaid, said he hopes the state can exit from the Medicaid system entirely.

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Florida hospital officials are lobbying lawmakers to expand Medicaid coverage to roughly 1 million residents under the federal healthcare law. A rally last week in Tallahassee came a day after a Senate panel voted against traditional Medicaid expansion and instead proposed a voucher system where patients would obtain private insurance through Florida Healthy Kids. Patients may have to pay premiums and co-payments. State funds could be used to subsidize that. A House panel has also vetoed expansion. Hospital executives said they're less concerned about the details as long as Florida draws down an estimated $51 billion in federal funds and covers more uninsured residents. Hospitals will be hit doubly hard if the state declines to expand Medicaid because the federal funding streams that hospitals rely on to pay for uninsured patients will end. Gov. Rick Scott wants to expand Medicaid coverage to roughly 1 million of Florida's poorest residents by raising eligibility as envisioned under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Scott said he was in favor of expanding Medicaid for the three years that the federal government will fund 100% of the new coverage. State economists project Florida would receive more than $51 billion over the next decade, while spending about $5.2 billion.

    —Associated Press

    CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas—A South Texas children's hospital and a nearby radiology center agreed to pay a total of $2.3 million to settle whistle-blower allegations that they double-billed government healthcare programs for work on genetic ultrasounds. The physician practice owned by the health system that runs Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi billed Medicare, Medicaid and other programs for both performing and interpreting pediatric genetic ultrasounds, according to the settlement agreement. But the government alleged the hospital had an agreement with an outside doctors' group called Radiology Associates on Corona Drive in Corpus Christi that was separately being paid to interpret the same test results, the government alleged. The double-billing was said to have occurred for several thousand ultrasounds between 2002 and 2007. The whistle-blower who filed the lawsuit in 2008 was Diana Kulwicki, a former revenue manager and coding compliance officer for Radiology Associates whose job included auditing radiology reports and coding. Driscoll Children's Hospital's wholly owned affiliate, Children's Physician Services of South Texas, will pay $1.5 million, and Radiology Associates will pay $800,000. The hospital said in a statement that a physician at the hospital believed his actions were legal, and had at one point contacted Medicaid officials about the issue, which led to the billing rules being changed in 2007. The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing, the hospital said, and was entered “to avoid the delay, uncertainty, inconvenience and expense of protracted litigation of the claims that it feels were a matter of interpretation.” An attorney for Radiology Associates did not return a call seeking comment.

    —Joe Carlson

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    mom_with_baby_getty_i.jpg
    States extend Medicaid for new mothers — even as they reject broader expansion
    Medicaid weighs attaching strings to nursing home payments to improve patient care
    Medicaid weighs attaching strings to nursing home payments to improve patient care
    Sponsored Content
    Daily Dose Newsletter: Sign up to receive a late afternoon weekday roundup of that day’s breaking news and developments in healthcare.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • COVID-19
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Digital Health
    • Insights
      • ACA 10 Years After
      • Best Practices
      • Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Data/Lists
      • Rankings/Lists
      • Interactive Databases
      • Data Points
    • Op-Ed
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Awards
      • Nominate/Eligibility
      • 100 Most Influential People
      • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
      • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
      • Excellence in Governance
      • Health Care Hall of Fame
      • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
      • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
      • Top 25 Innovators
      • Diversity in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
        • - Leaders to Watch
      • Women in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Women Leaders
        • - Women to Watch
    • Events
      • Conferences
        • Transformation Summit
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Leadership Symposium
      • Galas
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Strategic Marketing
        • - Virtual Health
      • Webinars
      • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Listen
      • Podcast - Next Up
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • MORE +
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing