Cong. Boustany’s efforts restore Church Point hospital payments

(Lafayette, LA) – Congressman Charles W. Boustany, Jr., M.D., (R-South Louisiana) issued the following statement after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it would reimburse Acadia-St. Landry Hospital in Church Point, LA, roughly $500,000 in multiple installments to help offset CMS’ failure to process the hospital’s claims for the months of September and October.
On October 28, Acadia-St. Landry Hospital CEO Peter Savoy contacted Boustany’s Washington office via email, saying: “Due to the negligent claim processing practices of Novitas/Medicare, whether intentional or not, we have had to take funds from our savings/investments account… to enable our hospital to make payroll and meet our account payable obligations…. The bottom line is that Novitas/Medicare has placed Acadia-St. Landry Hospital in a most precarious financial position; and, if their arbitrary, improper claims processing practices are not corrected immediately, we may not be able to survive.”
Boustany immediately contacted CMS requesting answers for the agency’s non-payment to Acadia-St. Landry Hospital. After demanding that the agency conduct an internal review to explain why they had failed to reimburse the local hospital, CMS contacted Acadia-St. Landry Hospital CEO Peter Savoy on November 18 to notify him the hospital would begin receiving the multiple payments by November 19.
Boustany said: “In a large bureaucracy like CMS, small rural hospitals can be in danger of falling through the cracks. When Acadia-St. Landry Hospital contacted my office, it was clear CMS and their regional contractor were not communicating well on the persisting problem and how to fix it. As a doctor, I know just how critical these funds are for the ability of a hospital to successfully function. I’m proud we were able to achieve this result to allow Acadia-St. Landry to focus on caring for patients instead of fighting over funding.”
Acadia-St. Landry Hospital CEO Peter Savoy said: “I am sincerely thankful to Congressman Boustany for helping Acadia-St. Landry Hospital with this serious issue concerning the non-payment of our hospital’s claims for the months of October and November. The hold on these receivables by CMS placed a tremendous financial strain on Acadia-St. Landry, causing our hospital to deplete a significant amount of dollars from its savings and investments, placing us in a precarious financial position.
“As a result of Congressman Boustany’s relentless pursuit regarding these claims, we can now move forward with what we do best, providing first-class patient care for our rural community.”