Final Hearing Set on Proposal to Hike County Hospital Charges

By City News Service:

The Board of Supervisors is expected this week to authorize Riverside County Regional Medical Center CEO Zareh Sarrafian to hike rates on a wide range of services and supplies provided by the Moreno Valley hospital.

Sarrafian is seeking an overall 8 percent increase in charges for procedures and accommodations. The board will hold its second and final public hearing on the proposal during its regular meeting Tuesday.

Last month, county CEO Jay Orr said that adjustments were needed to RCRMC’s rate structure because of how much the hospital’s costs have gone up.

“We buy drugs, medical supplies and contract out to a vast number of doctors, so we need to keep up with the costs of doing business at the hospital,” Orr said.

According to Sarrafian, rates were last adjusted in July 2012, and since then, inflation has pushed medical care prices up roughly 6.4 percent. But while other facilities have hiked rates on rooms, treatments and other necessities, RCRMC has kept a lid on pricing, the hospital director said.

The supervisors Tuesday are being asked to authorize Sarrafian to modify rates on more than 17,500 items, according to documents posted to the board’s policy agenda.

Huron Consulting Inc., the Chicago-based firm hired to conduct a top-to- bottom review of RCRMC’s operations in order to identify savings and revenue growth opportunities, found that area hospitals, including Loma Linda University Medical Center and Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, had raised rates an average of 10.35 percent annually over the last two years.

By increasing rates roughly 8 percent now, RCRMC would realize an additional $2.8 million in revenue over the next year, Huron estimated.

The hospital is struggling to overcome a multi-year deficit that’s expected to be $30 million by the end of the current fiscal year.

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