Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Local Healthcare Provider Participation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Ouachita Parish formalizes local hospital assessment program, sets 2025 rates and $150,000 collection cap
Summary
The Ouachita Parish Police Jury adopted measures July 3 to implement a local healthcare provider participation program under state law and set alternative assessment rates for fiscal year 2025 tied to a pending CMS waiver, with up to $150,000 budgeted for collection fees.
The Ouachita Parish Police Jury moved July 3 to put in place a local healthcare provider participation program and to set assessment formulas for fiscal year 2025 that will raise federal matching funds for Medicaid-related expenses.
Meredith Miller, representing Glenwood Regional Medical Center; Andy LeBlanc of St. Francis Medical Center; and Greg Frost of the law firm Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson LLP spoke in favor of Ordinance No. 9519 during a public hearing convened at the special meeting. The jury subsequently recorded earlier adoption of Ordinance No. 9519 (a roll call in the minutes shows unanimous approval, 6–0, and lists the ordinance as adopted June 2, 2025).
The jury also offered and adopted Resolution No. 25-21 to set the amounts and mechanics for local hospital assessment payments for fiscal year 2025. The resolution prescribes alternative assessment rates depending on whether the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approves a waiver excluding certain providers: if CMS approves the waiver, the assessment will be 5.0% of net patient revenue for outpatient hospital services for licensed non‑governmental acute care hospitals with 250 or more available beds as reported in the 2023 Medicare cost report; if CMS does not approve the waiver, the assessment will be 3.71% of each provider’s net patient revenue for outpatient services as reported in the most recent audited Medicare cost report. The parish will retain up to $150,000 of assessment receipts to cover collection efforts for FY2025.
The resolution and ordinance cite state statutory authority (2020 La. Act 330 and 2024 La. Act 432, implementing La. R.S. 40:1248.1–1248.10) and note that the parish provided the Louisiana Department of Health the required 20‑day notice; the minutes state the department had not required reductions or modifications to the proposed assessment.
The minutes record that no members of the public opposed either the ordinance or the resolution during the hearings. The jury authorized a motion to have Mr. Mitchell send correspondence to the Louisiana Department of Health regarding the program, and then adjourned at 8:11 a.m.
Next procedural steps noted in the record include a public hearing date referenced in the ordinance text (listed as July 7, 2025, at 5:30 p.m.) to decide whether to rescind or maintain the ordinance and the parish’s ongoing coordination with the Louisiana Department of Health and federal requirements. The minutes do not specify individual assessed dollar amounts per hospital, the identity of any hospitals that meet or fail the 250‑bed threshold, or an effective date for collections beyond the fiscal year reference.
