Newspapers / The Duplin Times (Warsaw, … / March 17, 1983, edition 1 / Page 7
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Duplin Hospital Seeks Fiscal Curel ? I When a rural county hos pital's low-income patients turn the hospital itself into a ^ financial patient, voters and ? tax-payers face major deci sions. When the hospital is $700,000 behind in paying its bills, as Duplin* General in Kenansville has been in recent months, taxpayers must decide how close the gap is between incofne and expenses. Should they use county taxes, or raise fees to the ) patients who can pay, or turn the hospital over to a private for-profit firm? Under the last option, the firm probably would need a county subsidy for patients who can't pay their full bills. The oroblems facing Duplin General, an 80-bed facility serving one of the state's most rural counties, are typical of rural medical k facilities, according to hospi tal and county officials. The hospital is losing money because federal Medicare and Medicaid pro grams only pay about 70 percent of the hospital's charges. Patients under these programs make up two-thirds of its care, exactly opposite what county offi cials say should be. | W.J. Costin, chairman of the Duplin County Commis sioners, said the patient pay ment mix should be about 30 percent Medicare and Medi caid and about 70 percent private insurance or payment schedules. Duplin General now is in a serious bind because it has deviated from that formula. ? "The government cheats on the payment of bills," said Dr. Corbett L. Quinn, of Magnolia, a longtime prac titioner in Duplin County. He appears to have strong support from hospital and local government officials when he charges ???he government lies when it says it funds Medicaid and Medi care." "Quinn suggested levying a county tax, labeled as a hospital operating tax. Duplin County voters autho rized a property tax of up to 8 cents per $100 for 'hospital operation when they approved the hospital in a 1052 referendum. Costin said the county needs the hospital and won't allow it to close. The hos pital's Board of Trustees will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday to discuss its financial prob lems. "We've got to Find some thing out by June 1," when the county plans its budget, Costin said. "They're (trus tees) $700,000 behind in paying bills, although this varies month by month. They're having cash flow problems." "We're getting hit at both ends," Costin said. "Besides having to make up the dif ference between billings and what we get, we have to send $308,700 to Raleigh this year as the county's share of the Medicaid program cost." In the past five months, the hospital billed Medicare patients $106,188? as much as allowed by current rules ? and billed Medicare for the $482.117 balance of those patients' fees, hospital ad ministrator Richard Harrell said. Of that balance. Medi care paid only $695,974, leaving the hospital with un paid and uncollectable bills totaling $286,143. Current government jargon calls that loss "con tract adjustments." Hospitals are barred by law from billing Medicare and Medicaid patients for the difference between charges and actual government pay ments. Some of the federally applied squeeze is designed to hold down hospital costs. Hospital officials, how ever. maintain their costs far exceed what they can recover under these programs. Hospital Board Chairman Ray Sanderson said Medi care and Medicaid reim bursements are about equal to the cost of a patient's carc. but do not account for the patient's share of the hos pital's total operating costs. When all hospital costs are included. Harrell said, the actual cost of Medicare pa tients was $263.51 per day, of which patients paid $25.71 and Medicare $168.52, leav ing $69.28 unpaid and un collectable/ During the past hospital fiscal year ? Oct. 1, 1981 to Sept. 30. 1982 ? 50 percent of Duplin General's patients were on Medicare, a pro gram for the elderly; 9 percent on Medicaid, de signed to aid the poor; 12 percent under a mental health program using a simi lar reimbursement formula; and 29 percent on insurance or out-of-pocket payments. Eight pei cent of the hos pital's billings ended up as bad debts, Harrell said. Sanderson cited a recent "worst case scenario" in which Medicaid paid S252 and Blue Cross $18 towards a patient's $670 bill, leaving a loss of $382, In a memorandum to county commissioners, Ouinn predicted, "It will cost in the neighborhood of $! million initially and about $500,000 annual mainte nance (in public money) as |.>nr> as the present formulas for state and federal parti cipation remain in effect." Quinn said his estimate of $1 million needed initially is an estimate of costs of im mediate replacement for old equipment. County Manager Ralph Cottle siid county commis sioners appropriated $1,931 million for the hospital in the last five years, an average of $380,000 per year, mostly for investment in the building and equipment. Cottle said this amounts to about 6 cents ner $100 in the county's property tax rate. Commissioner D. J. Fussell said. "Duplin Gen eral is not going to close. Closing it isn't even in my vocabulary." Fussell suggested hiring a consultant on hospital finan cial affairs to advise the commissioners and hospital trustees on possible solu tions. He and other commis sioners have said they may have to alter their priorities to maintain the hospital, but they don't favor the last resort: raising county taxes. FIVE GENERATIONS of the Andrew Her * man Tyndall and Mary Davis Family of Pink * Hill, are shown above. Seated, left to right, Baby Heather Smith, Mary Tyndall Howard. Standing. Patricia Howard Smith. Timothy Smith and Eunice Tvndall Howard. Attention Farmers Attention ill farmers who plan on raising peppers. Accordingito Phil Denlinger, I assistant Agricultural Exten sion agent, intent to import pepper plants from out of state must be reported to the Plant Protection section of the North Carolina Depart ment of Agriculture. Notifi cation forms can be nicked up at the county Extension Service office in Kenansville. This regulation requires anyone who intends to bring ) pepper plants from another state into North Carolina for commercial purposes to pro vide the Plant Protection section with the following information: importer's name and address, approxi mate number of plants to be imported, approximate date of importation and the name and address of the out-of state source. This action is prompted by the severe bacterial leaf stxit problem encountered on peppers in 1982 which was largely traceable to infected transplants and seeds. Moni toring sources of imported pepper plants will be one way to help prevent a disease outbreak. For more information and notification forms, contact Denlinger at the AES office in Kenansville. Piano Tuning ind Repair Jimmy C. Watt Registered . Piano Technician Box 502, Warsaw Kenansville - 296-0219 '?SSST" |The Number 1 Auto Insurer in ?North Carolina is Good People ?bringing you Great Service! ?Nationwide, North Carolina's Number 1 ?Auto Insurer, is on your side with more than . ^^500 Agents and Adjusters in North Carolina * ^mo make sure you get fast service when you ^?need it, O.L.Scott Ethro Hill Rt. 2, Scott'* Store Highway #11 Mt. Oltva, NC 28365 Pink Hill Phone: 658-5222 568-3310 NATIONWIDE 1 M INSURANCE Nationwide is on your side Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company Nationwide Lite Insurance Company Home office Columbus. Ohio THIS INFORMATION IS THE BENEFIT OF THOSE WHO ARE UNAWARE OF THE FACT THAT THE PACK IS BACK GO NCSU ALL THE WAY TO ALBUQUERQUE! COMPLIMENTS OF RAY JOHNSON To control weeds in tobacco, you have to make two difficult decisions. 1. Should I treat for nutsedge? Nutsedge has been called the world's worst weed with good reason. Spreading by seed and by tuber, above ground and below, nutsedge can reduce tobacco yields, lower crop quality and increase harvesting costs. Even one tuber per square foot can escalate into a major infesta tion in just 20 weeks. So if you think you'll get nutsedge this year, you should seriously consider applying a preplant herbicide that can control it. 2. Should I treat preplant? 11 nutsedge might he a problem, the only time to get effective control is preplant. So you can decide to apply your herbicide early. Hut if you have problem weeds that don't include nutsedge, you could decide to apply your herbicide at layby or transplant instead. Not only will a single application last through the growing season, but you'll run less risk of injuring young plants. And one easy one. 1. Which herbicide should I use? Choosing application time is the hard part. Choosing the herbicide is easy. DevrinolK selective herbicide. Preplant, Devrinol can be mixed with Tillam" to control both yellow and purple nutsedge. along with many other grasses and broadleafs. And if layby or transplant is your decision, Devrinol can save you u[> to 50% in herbicide costs. Devrinol may not remove the entire load of decision making from you. but it vmi help simplify it. Follow label directions. Stauffer Chemical Company, Agricultural Chemical Division, West port. CT 06881. WESTERN AUTOj ^ PINK HIU M SENTRY BIAS PLY i Stock Size No. P^'ce F.E.T. 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The Duplin Times (Warsaw, N.C.)
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March 17, 1983, edition 1
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