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Hospital Leaders Decry Proposed Cuts

WESTFIELD — Area hospital administrators sent a clear message to legislators earlier this month: don’t make any more cuts in Medicaid reimbursements!
Speaking at a public hearing called by the Legislature’s Hospital Task Force at Westfield State College, several area hospital leaders said Gov. Mitt Romney’s plans to further reduce Medicaid reimbursements would likely result in discontinuation of some services.

“You can’t expect the institutions to continue to provide more with less funding,” Noble Hospital President George Koller said in response to Romney’s proposal to cut Medicaid reimbursements from the current 70{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} to about 61{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} or 62{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5}. His comments were echoed by officials from Baystate Health System, Holyoke Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center, and other area providers.

Koller said Noble is at the brink of having to cut back or discontinue some services, and warned that further Medicaid cuts would seriously impact smaller community hospitals.

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