CLALLAM COUNTY – CMS, the government agency for Medicare and Medicaid, recently proposed a rule to cut reimbursement for Olympic Medical Center’s off-site clinics by 60%. That proposal would include the entire OMC Sequim campus, and the primary care clinic at 8th & Vine in Port Angeles.
So anytime a Medicare or Medicaid patient comes in for services at any location other than the hospital itself, the clinic would receive 60% less from the government. In total, the proposal would result in OMC receiving a reimbursement cut of $3.4 million in 2019, and more than $47 million over the next decade.
That just wouldn’t be sustainable in this community, says CEO Eric Lewis:
CMS is taking public comment on the matter until September 24. OMC officials are urging local residents to write in and help them stop the proposal from going forward.
To submit a comment to the Centers For Medicare Medicaid Services, https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=CMS-2018-0078-0002