Cash-strapped Bristol Hospital has received $17,000 in donations from the community, and is hoping to raise a total of $1 million by the end of the year.
It’s two days worth of cash on hand — a drop in the bucket compared to the money the health care system says it’s losing in insurance claims denied by private Medicare Advantage plans.
“I had a patient in my ICU on Medicare Advantage [who] really should have been placed into a long-term, post-acute ventilator facility,” said Kurt Barwis, CEO of Bristol Health. “After hundreds of days of care, and probably close to $2 million in charges, yet today, I have not been paid one dime, one dime. Medicare Advantage paid nothing.”
Nationwide, hospital CEOs say Medicare Advantage claim denials are threatening their existence. For Bristol Health, the financial stress was worsened by cash reserves depleted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The health system includes a hospital and over 100 provider networks in Connecticut. Private Medicare Advantage plans cover more than a quarter of its patients, but Barwis says Medicare Advantage denies so many claims it’s threatening the hospital’s future.
“How do you exist when Medicare Advantage just consistently denies 18% of what you bill them on a claims basis?” Barwis said.
More than a dozen hospitals across the country have stopped accepting Medicare Advantage patients, according to Becker’s Hospital Review.
As Bristol Health continues to face financial challenges, Barwis says he’s optimistic people will keep donating money to help.
“The community itself created the hospital 102 years ago because of the Spanish flu pandemic,” Barwis said. “So the community came together to say, 'we need a place to take care of our community, we need to invest in this organization.'"
