Louisiana DHH To Absorb $70 Million In Cuts To Close Current Year Budget Gap, Will Drop Safety Net Hospital Reimbursements By 1.5%

On March 24, 2016, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards announced that the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) budget would be cut by $70 million through June 30, 2016 to close the state’s current-year budget gap. Reimbursements to the state’s 10 safety net hospitals will be cut by 1.5%. On March 29, Governor Edwards said that for the coming fiscal year, he doubts that the state can continue to fund all of the nine public-private safety net hospital contracts under the current contract terms that were set in 2014. For the fiscal year that starts . . .