Chartered Health Plan is facing liquidation, and dozens of providers in the District of Columbia could be holding the bag for as much as $85 million, The Washington Post reported.
The figure cited by Chartered's receiver is about double the prior estimates of what it could owe providers. Of that sum, about $60 million is comprised of Medicaid payments, according to the Post,.
K. Edward Shanbacker, executive vice president of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, opined to the Post that given its members had fought fiercely when D.C. attempted to claw back $11 million in Medicaid payments last year, "If $11 million was going to cause that severe a disruption, one has to believe that $85 million is going to cause that times X."
Last October, City officials took over Chartered amid concerns of financial irregularities.
Providers in the region have been under financial pressure to begin with. For instance, Howard University Medical Center has experienced a steep drop in patient volumes, suffering an overall 12 percent decline in inpatient admissions during 2012 while outpatient volume increased little more than 1 percent since 2009, the Washington Business Journal reported.
For more:
- read the Washington Post article
- read the Washington Business Journal article