Yet another interesting quote from Moses Cone CEO Tim Rice. A lot of people are waiting for the government to change their whole world —– good luck.
The N&R writes up the tough budget negotiations between Guilford County Commission Chairman Skip Alston and Cone over funding for health clinics for the poor.
Cone and High Point Regional Health System are seeking federal funding that could fill the county’s void:
The county agreed to pay $2.3 million for Guilford Adult Health and Guilford Child Health this fiscal year with the understanding that the hospitals would apply to become a Federally Qualified Health Center. That would make them eligible for more federal funding and a larger share of reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid.
The programs were renamed Guilford Adult and Pediatric Medicine.
“The whole world’s going to change if we get this up and going,” Moses Cone CEO Tim Rice said last May of the federal designation.
But nearly a year later, the hospitals haven’t yet gotten that designation. Hospital officials hope to hear a decision this month, but it could take the clinics until the end of the year to reap the benefits.
Alston offered up a $1.5 million loan, which the clinics rejected. In that case, Alston replied he “did not see a need for a grant because they can get the money back from a federal grant…..They want to keep the grant and the federal money, too.”
Joe Guarino —back from break —- weighs in, saying government funding for local health care facilities “is part of the overall tendency toward the enlargement of the public sector in health care.”
