Rockford Sun

Officials at an Illinois hospital are upset over comments made by U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos (D–East Moline) in which she urged the federal government to stop providing relief payments for health systems that have stopped accepting Medicaid patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mercyhealth Vice President Barb Bortner said in a statement that Bustos' comments were disappointing, WIFR reported.

"It is unfortunate Congresswoman Bustos is spending her time on this issue instead of trying to help us with the major State of Illinois Medicaid reimbursement issue we are facing as the largest Medicaid provider in her entire district," Bortner said. "The CARES Act funding we received was for COVID-19 patients from Jan. 1 through April 10, 2020. Hospitals across the nation submitted their COVID-19 inpatient volumes. We treated over 100 patients during this time at our Rockford hospitals, thus we received funding as did hundreds of other hospitals across the United States."

Bortner said they are continuing to treat all Medicaid patients.

"The earliest any insurance contract expires in July 2020," Bortner said. "This is plenty of time for Medicaid patients, if negotiations do not work out, to find a new provider at SwedishAmerican or OSF. Both provide excellent care. This is no different than what occurred with OSF last year, when they terminated contacts with some Medicaid MCOs and patients who wanted to stay with those insurance carriers transferred to Mercyhealth or SwedishAmerican."

Bortner said that when OSF made that same decision, Bustos was silent. 

"We have asked Congresswoman Bustos in the past, and we continue to ask in the future, for help to fix the State of Illinois Medicaid reimbursement issues that hospitals and health systems across the state of Illinois are dealing with, especially during this COVID-19 situation, Mercyhealth being one of the largest Medicaid providers in the entire state," Bortner said.

Bustos urged Congress to stop providing coronavirus relief funding if hospitals did not continue to accept Medicaid, claiming the nonprofit health system was putting profits ahead of people, WIFR reported.