"Not Healthcare but a Financial Strategy"

Photo from La Prensa

Dr. Mehrdad Sharif—Anesthesiologist & Partner of CA Anesthesia Associates Group—recently wrote an article in Arturo Castañares' La Prensa newspaper.

In it, he discusses potential harm that could occur if the new Assembly Bills and a State Plan Amendment pass.

Dr. Sharif writes:

"California is on the verge of transforming its emergency medical system into a vehicle for public pension bailouts, at the expense of patients, taxpayers, and the very providers who deliver most of the lifesaving care. 

A proposed State Plan Amendment (SPA) would allow public fire departments to bill Medicaid $1,596.88 per emergency ambulance transport, while private ambulance providers, who perform approximately 70% of the state’s emergency transports, would continue receiving just $339 for delivering the same service for Medicaid patients.

This isn’t a healthcare policy, it’s a financial strategy. 

And unless the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) intervenes, California’s Medicaid program could be hijacked to fund bloated public pension obligations, rather than improve care for low-income patients."

La Prensa published the story as "CA Medicaid Ambulance Scheme Is a Pension Power Grab, CMS Must Say No."

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