FIRST REGULAR SESSION

House Concurrent Resolution No. 25

94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

2094L.01I

      Whereas, Truman Medical Centers is Western Missouri's safety net hospital system. The Truman Medical Center System is comprised of Truman Medical Center Hospital Hill, Truman Medical Center Lakewood, and Truman Medical Center Behavioral Health; and

            Whereas, with three out of four of Truman Medical Center patients being uninsured or Medicaid-eligible, Truman Medical Center is the health care home for many of the underinsured in the Kansas City area; and

            Whereas, Truman Medical Center is particularly concerned about proposed regulations from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that would narrow the definition of "public" so that many current public hospitals, including Truman Medical Center, would no longer qualify as public for purposes of providing the local match required to obtain federal Medicaid funds. Initial estimates of the impact to Truman Medical Center is that it would exceed $37 million in lost Medicaid funding; and

            Whereas, Truman Medical Center's exclusion as a public institution would occur despite the fact that Truman Medical Center operates the hospitals of the City of Kansas City, Missouri, and Jackson County, Missouri. Truman Medical Center continues to shoulder public duties such as indigent healthcare and jail clinics; and

            Whereas, both Truman Medical Center hospitals serve as primary teaching institutions for the residents and undergraduate medical students of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; and

            Whereas, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has previously explicitly recognized Truman Medical Center's governmental status; and

            Whereas, the proposed rules would arbitrarily remove Truman Medical Center from its status as a government owned or operated hospital:

            Now, therefore, be it resolved that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-fourth General Assembly, First Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby urge the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to withdraw the portion of the proposed rules that would change the status of Truman Medical Center as a government owned or operated hospital; and

            Be it further resolved that the General Assembly requests that the Missouri Congressional delegation ask the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to withdraw this rule and further requests the Missouri Congressional delegation to diligently work to assure that this rule does not take effect; and

            Be it further resolved that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare properly inscribed copies of this resolution for Leslie V. Norwalk, Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and each member of the Missouri Congressional delegation.

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