Local officials praise a hospital assessment that would provide $300 million a year to Wisconsin hospitals in federal Medicaid dollars.
Mercy Health System Vice President Rich Gruber says while it is a program expansion, it's the first upward adjustment of Medicaid reimbursement rates in Wisconsin in the past ten years.
He says in the 3006-07 fiscal year, the cost of providing Medicaid services was roughly $30 million. Mercy was reimbursed approximately $14 million, making the Medicaid shortfall for that fiscal year roughly $16 million.