3026.0: Monday, November 13, 2000 - 1:30 PM

Abstract #16692

Successful strategies In California

Santiago Munoz, Director of Finance Policy, California Association of Public Hospitals, 2000 Center Street, ste. 308, Berkeley, CA 94704, 510-649-7650, smunoz@caph.org

Santiago Muņoz, is Director of Finance Policy at the California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (CAPH). CAPH represents a core group of hospital safety net providers known as Open Door Providers (ODP) that have a mission and mandate to serve the uninsured regardless of ability to pay. Currently, the core Open Door Providers account for 6% of the acute care hospitals in California, but provide approximately 38% of the hospital care to California's uninsured. In addition, since 1993, while total patient volume at ODPs has declined, the number of uninsured patients has increased 16%. The ODPs also provide a complex and diverse array of community wide services, including 9.6 million outpatient clinic visits annually, support of the state's trauma system, and train over half of California's medical interns and residents.

Mr. Muņoz is responsible for examining reimbursement programs and market trends that impact Open Door Providers and the communities they serve. In his presentation, Mr. Muņoz will discuss the current financial trends, which challenge Open Door Providers in California, and the design of statewide subsidies that support these providers. He will discuss the implications of these California experiences for other public hospitals Nationwide.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant wll be able to: 1. identify succesful financial strategies used by major public hospitals, in order to assure capacity of these hospitals to continue to provide health care in underserved communities. 2. Analyze and evaluate the applicability of these strategies nationwide

Keywords: Public Hospitals, Access and Services

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA