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Committee debates Arkansas Surgical Hospital exemption from provider tax; proposal fails after extended questioning
Summary
A bill that would have exempted Arkansas Surgical Hospital from the state’s hospital provider tax program provoked extended committee discussion about CMS waiver risk and potential effects on rural hospitals; the committee ultimately did not advance the measure.
Representative Acre presented House Bill 1530, which would have changed the definition of “specialty hospital” under the hospital provider tax program to exempt Arkansas Surgical Hospital, an orthopedic and spine specialty facility, from the provider tax and associated supplemental payment calculations. Brian Fowler, chief executive officer of Arkansas Surgical Hospital, said the hospital had been offered an exemption when the program began and that the facility had paid into the tax for 15 years while seeking a safe exit now that program calculations and the tax cap have changed. Fowler said the hospital serves patients from every county in the state and pays nearly $2,000,000 in various…
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