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Harborview warns of deep Medicaid funding losses, urges county support for dedicated infusion center
Summary
Harborview, supported by SEIU 1199NW, told the King County committee federal changes to Medicaid funding could cut hundreds of millions in reimbursements and said it needs a permanent infusion clinic, parking backfill and flexibility in county budget language to avoid service reductions.
Harborview Medical Center leaders and union representatives told the King County Housing, Health and Human Services Committee that looming federal changes to Medicaid reimbursement threaten the hospital’s finances and patient access and asked the council to preserve flexibility in county funding to prioritize frontline care.
"We need an infusion clinic," Andrew, a Harborview nurse, told the committee, describing repeated relocations of the makeshift infusion area and a ramp-up in patients needing IV treatments for autoimmune disease, iron deficiency and newly approved Alzheimer’s therapies. He said the unit had moved five times in seven years and that December saw a record 760 visits in a month — roughly triple volumes from two years earlier.
Lindsay Grad, legislative…
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