County Seeks Reform in Paying Doctors

The Los Angles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday called for change in the county’s reimbursement pay process for physicians who treat patients even when those patients are unable to pay for the care.

The county's Department of Health Services froze payments to those doctors in September due to insufficient funds.

The shortfall then was made worse by the state pulling its support for the Physicians Services for Indigent Program, which compensates doctors at private hospitals when patients cannot pay for being treated.

Supervisor Don Knabe, who represents Hermosa Beach in the Fourth District, proposed in a board meeting last week that the county reform the program.

The board then approved a reduction in the reimbursement rate paid to doctors (changing the rate from 14 to 12 percent), and directed the Department of Health Services to start making payments again.

But Knabe said more needed to be done.

"The county is the ultimate safety net and our doctors are critical to ensuring that the neediest patients in L.A. County receive basic emergency care," Knabe said in a statement. "We need to stop putting band-aids on a situation that requires real reform or we will be back to this same dilemma again next year. We cannot continue to freeze payments and reduce rates—it is an insult to the doctors that we all depend on."

The board Tuesday unanimously voted in support of Knabe's proposals to:

• give Dr. Mitchell Katz, the director of the county's Department of Health Services, the authority to reset payments as needed without formal board approval.
• direct the department to implement a series of improvements to the compensation program that was recommended by the county's auditor-controller in March; such as changing the enrollment process, reducing delays in claims and payment, and improving administration of the program.

"We must take the next step forward in improving our operations and how we manage emergency healthcare so that all residents of L.A. County who must visit an emergency room can expect the availability of services and quality they deserve," Knabe said.

— City News Service.