The CEO of Grady Health System says the bill’s passage by the Senate would cut $50 to 60 million from the health system’s annual revenues and many who gained insurance through Obamacare will lose it.
The recent passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of the American Health Care Act, will affect all hospitals to some degree, but none more than safety net hospitals, which treat a large percentage of poor patients.
Why? Because a much larger percentage of their revenue depends on reimbursement from Medicaid, which expanded under the ACA, but is targeted for the majority of cuts under the AHCA.
John Haupert is not just CEO of Grady Health System, the $917 million (operating revenue) Atlanta safety-net health system. He’s also the board chair of America’s Essential Hospitals, the 275-member safety net hospital association.
In the wake of the House’s passage of the AHCA, and in anticipation of the Senate’s upcoming consideration of the Republican bid for repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, HealthLeaders spoke with Haupert about his thoughts on the bill (or its Senate version) and the effects it could have on hospitals and health systems like Grady.
Following is a lightly edited transcript of that conversation.
HENRY KOTULA 