Hospital CEO
Dear Editor: With the sudden departure of the hospital CEO, the board and Assembly need to look at every action and statement he made. The former CEO’s departure leaves anything he did “for the sake of the hospital” in question.
The figure he gave for monies owed to Medicare for the credentialing error, to the board, Assembly and community as a whole, is highly suspect. The credentialing error was this: Credentials are granted to doctors by the hospital medical staff and approved by the board. The credentials allow doctors to perform certain procedures that they wish to do at the hospital. This is also called granting privileges.
If a doctor’s credentials are not up to date, you cannot bill Medicare for these services. That was the error that was discovered this past fall during the hospital’s annual audit. At first look it appeared that the hospital needed to pay back about $50K.
This was a rough estimate but it allowed the hospital to report to Medicare that the hospital had billing errors. It would take some time to get an accurate figure because the hospital had just gone through a change to it’s computer systems. The change was mandated by the federal government to all healthcare systems under the new healthcare laws.
Right after that I was asked to resign so I was not involved with figuring out the final amount owed to Medicare. The numbers I had were the same numbers given to you by the former CEO. The numbers he gave were most certainly “worst case.” These numbers included penalties for interest, fines for miss reporting and fines for purposely defrauding the government. None of which happened.
The hospital “self reported.” The hospital immediately quit billing Medicare for the providers whose status was in arrears. The hospital acknowledged that we owed money to Medicare. This is nothing new for our hospital or any hospital. It might surprise some of you, but our government-run healthcare rarely has books that balance.
Every year after the audit and cost report are done one of two things happen. Either we owe Medicare a refund for overpayment or Medicare owes the hospital for underpayment. If Medicare owes us money then they send the hospital a check. If the hospital owes Medicare money we send them a check, unless.
At times we owe more money than we have available. Several times in the past couple of decades what the hospital owed to Medicare ran into six figures. Did you notice the hospital closing down because Medicare foreclosed on us? Doesn’t happen for innocent financial errors.
What happens is that the CFO and with help from the Compliance Officer and sometimes the CEO, if they are interested, will work with Medicare. A repayment plan is set up that all parties agree to. The money gets paid back and the books are closed on that fiscal year.
Everything from the former CEO is suspect. One of the board members last week was heard to say that collections were up since being outsourced under the former CEO’ leadership. The truth is that collections are up, but it is the hospital staff who are making this happen. The outsource work hasn’t even started yet and it shouldn’t
T.E. Marthaller, Sitka
Life Jacket Donation
Dear Editor: Thank you very much to the anonymous donor of life jackets to the Kids Don’t Float boxes in Sealing Harbor.
You know who you are and your donation to keep children in Sitka safe while near the water is very much appreciated. Thank you also to everyone who helps to keep the life jacket boxes stocked by returning life jackets after using them. If you ever notice problems with the boxes, please call Southeast Alaska Women in Fisheries at 747-5012.
Denise Klinger,
South East Women In Fisheries
