Obamacare Contractor Blamed for Slow Medicare Payments to Hospitals

The Weekly Standard ^ | January 2, 2014 | JERYL BIER

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The contractor building the financial management system for Healthcare.gov is being blamed by a Houston hospital for delayed Medicare reimbursements that have caused the hospital to miss payrolls for weeks. Novitas Solutions is the federal government's new Medicare payment processor for the south-central region of the country hired by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS.) ABC-KTRK in Houston reports:

According to the CEO Jason Leday, more than 150 employees haven't been paid in nearly a month.

"I understand that they have children and a house payment, bills. Not getting paid is wow," nearby resident Theresa Gutierrez said.

The hospital is strapped for cash not because its not making money, but because Leday says a new Medicare payment facilitator named Novitas Solutions is taking too way long to pay out Medicare claims to the hospital.

Leday says he's owed nearly $3 million in payments from Medicare and can't make payroll...

The Texas Medical Association says they are familiar with complaints like this one regarding the medicare payment facilitator- and a representative told us smaller community hospitals like this one are in similar situations.

[dforest]

ugh, it has already started. The genocide of old people has begun.

[lowbridge]

Bump

[upchuck]

Novitas's direct connection to Healthcare.gov stems from an emergency, no-bid contract for "financial management services" awarded in August and first reported by THE WEEKLY STANDARD in September.

Emphasis mine.

There ya go...

[Mamzelle]

Who is the congress critter for Houston? Who is the mayor?

[browniexyz]

77 million baby-boomers are now eligible for Medicare and Social Security. That’s quite a voting bloc in a country of 300 million. Time for some of those aged 65-plus to get mad!! And also, maybe it’s time for them to insist that the federal government follow the Medicare statute—no where in the law does it say that turning 65 makes Medicare MANDATORY, but the administrators of Medicare and Social Security have made it the de facto situation, and insurers have stopped insuring that bunch where possible. And, does anyone else see a problem where a hospital bases its entire PAYROLL on Medicare payments????

[az wildkitten]

The AHA was all for Obamacare. You got what you asked for.

[Liz]

The genocide of old people has begun.The contractor building the financial management system for Healthcare.gov delayed Medicare reimbursements causing missed payrolls for weeks. Novitas Solutions is the fed's new Medicare payment processor for south-central US....hired by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a division of HHS. According to the CEO Jason Leday, more than 150 employees (w/ mtges and other crucial expenses) haven't been paid in nearly a month.

NOTE WELL: ... the biggest ACA whopper is yet to be exposed: the feds tightening their grip over your doctor and your healthcare. Section 1311(h)(1)(B) gives the Secretary of HHS blanket authority to dictate how doctors treat patients. Not just patients in government programs like Medicare and Medicaid, but patients with private plans they pay for themselves. On Dec. 2, 2013, we learned from the Federal Register that the rules are now being written. Starting in 2015, insurance companies will be barred from doing business with doctors who fail to comply.

More than half the cost of O/Care's so-called "senior entitlement" scam is subsidized by actually restricting and rationing senior care---by cutting what hospitals, doctors, hospice care, home care and Advantage plans are paid to care for seniors.

THE CUTS ARE NO ACCIDENT: "Tolerant and compassionate" Obama knows that the most expensive h/care is delivered the last three years of life.......

[Liz]

Sen Harry Reid, 74, recently said that enrolling in O/Care costs him about $4,500 more than before. But Harry says that's OK b/c the increase is "age-related.”

(Sniffle) "Tolerant and compassionate" Obama knows that the most expensive h/care is delivered the last three years of life...so oldsters HAVE to pay more (sob).

Heck, socking Harry w/ a massive increase could even save money. For sure, decrepit Sen Harry will necessitate expensive medical care for diseases of old age including the ones he's being treated for now--- senility, Alzheimer's, dementia, arthritis, osteoarthritis, heart problems, heart attacks, stroke, kidney failure, prostate enlargement, osteoporosis (brittle bones)....etc.

Course, just in case ol' Harry hangs in there, Obamacare's I-PAB kicks in to ration medical care when stubborn old buzzards like Harry insist on getting more healthcare than his lousy $4500 per month entitles him to.

---------------------------------------------------

Harry's dam lucky he represents Nevada---if he represented Alaska, he'd been on the ice floe w/ the rest of the older, sick Eskimos----floating out into the frigid Arctic Ocean wearing a sealskin coat, bearskin shorts, and a pair of mukluks.

[RebelTXRose]

one congress critter is that awful Sheila Jackson Lee who thinks she is a queen. the mayor is gay.
Both are dems... no criticism of o’care from them!

[Buckeye McFrog]

Who is the congress critter for Houston?

Sheila Jackson Lee (you had to ask...)

[Mamzelle]

It was rhetorical...lol...

[Vaduz]

Odd how Texas is singled out?.

/s