NASHVILLE – The state’s hospitals could lose a half billion dollars under the cumulative effect of Gov. Phil Bredesen’s proposed TennCare cuts, the president of the Tennessee Hospital Association said today.
“If these cuts go through, we’d be looking at Armageddon,” said Craig Becker, who warned that some hospitals such as the Regional Medical Center at Memphis could be forced to close their doors.
The combined impact of TennCare cuts approved last year by legislators as well as those outlined by the governor this week in his proposed 2010-2011 budget could cost hospitals alone as much as $526 million in state and federal funding, Mr. Becker said. One estimate making the rounds among legislators is even higher.
Other affected providers such as doctors face cuts too.
Erlanger Medical Center President Jim Brexler, who is chairman of the Tennessee Hospital Association, said proposed cuts would be “devastating” both for the state’s hospital industry as well as for Erlanger.