AUTHORITY OVER CLINICS IN QUESTION; COUNTY WILL REWRITE CONTRACTS.Byline: Krystn Shrieve Staff Writer On the heels of a meeting with federal health regulators, county officials set out Monday to fix administrative problems in the county clinic system that have posed a $2 million loss in Medicare funding. Supervisor John Flynn said the county is rewriting re·write v. re·wrote , re·writ·ten , re·writ·ing, re·writes v.tr. 1. To write again, especially in a different or improved form; revise. 2. its contracts with its 43 health care and mental health clinics, which are satellite facilities of the Ventura County Medical Center Ventura County Medical Center is a hospital in the city of Ventura, California, USA. It is a 208 bed acute care hospital. The county also operates a 49 bed campus in Santa Paula. . County officials also are preparing a report, due in 10 days, which they hope will convince federal officials to restore Medicare reimbursements at the higher rate received by clinics that are affiliated with hospitals. ``I think we laid out a road map,'' Flynn said. ``And if we are able to stay on the road and not make any detours I think we will be able to satisfy'' federal officials. Flynn, Health Care Agency Director Pierre Durand Pierre Durand is the name of several people:
n.pr department in the U.S. agency of Health and Human Services responsible for the oversight of the Medicaid and Medicare benefit programs, including guidelines, payment, and coverage policies. . Earlier this year, HCFA HCFA abbr. Health Care Financing Administration HCFA, n.pr See Health Care Financing Administration. decertified 34 of the county's 43 clinics from receiving the higher Medicare rate, saying there was no clear line of authority between those facilities and the medical center. Additionally, HCFA said, because those clinics are more than nine miles Nine Miles is a reggae "band" started by Yoshiaki Manabe (真鍋吉明) of The Pillows. The name Nine Miles comes from the name of the town in which Bob Marley grew up in Jamaica.
The county appealed HCFA's decision but has now stayed that action as the two sides continue to negotiate. The decision ultimately could cost mental health operations $2 million. Flynn said Caldwell told officials she would consider recertifying the clinics but warned that a change was unlikely. Caldwell did not return telephone calls for comment. Powers was assigned the job of rewriting the contract between the county and its 43 clinics to show a more direct line of authority between the clinics and the hospital. ``The new contract will show clearly how the hospital is connected to the clinics,'' Flynn said. ``It will show how the hospital administrator has a supervisory capacity over the clinics, and if a clinic is not doing a good job the county has veto power and can shut it down. Right now the old contract doesn't make that clear; it's not well written and we admitted that.'' Durand is charged with reporting back to HCFA in 10 days on the county's integrated medical system, which provides coordinated care between the county's clinics and the hospital. Officials hope the report on that system will help to clarify the link between the clinics and the hospital and possibly satisfy federal health regulators. |
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