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Two hospitals sue Hillsborough County
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- Two hospitals filed suit Wednesday against Hillsborough County, saying the county owes them millions in unpaid bills for the treatment of indigent patients. The suits mark the latest woes for the county's celebrated program to provide treatment to the poor. In recent years, the program has seen dwindling financial reserves and faced the prospect of cutbacks by county commissioners. Columbia Brandon Regional Medical Center and South Bay Hospital in Sun City Center allege that the county has violated a January 1995 agreement to reimburse the hospitals for patients treated under the program. In the suits, the Brandon hospital says the county owes it about $3.3-million, while the Sun City hospital says the county owes it about $1.5-million. The hospitals are also asking for interest and court costs. Reached late Wednesday, county administrators said they were unaware the suits had been filed. The county's indigent care program, started in 1992, is funded by a half-penny sales tax paid across the county. Because the tax does not cover the roughly $90-million a year the program costs, however, the county has been forced to dip into a dwindling reserve fund. County Deputy Administrator Pat Bean said the program remains solvent but struggles with problems created by Ascendia Health Care of Baltimore, which in 2000 became the third-party administrator charged with processing claims under the plan. Health care companies complained of unpaid bills and mishandled claims. In recent months, Ascendia was replaced. "We're working as hard as we can with the new third-party administrator to process all the claims that hadn't been properly processed," said Bean. "We're trying to deal with that now. We're trying to clean up all the problems (created by) Ascendia's failure to perform adequately." The county is also in the process of scaling back the health plan so that it can be fully financed by the half-cent sales tax revenue. Joseph F. Rosen, the Coral Gables-based attorney who filed the suits on behalf of the hospitals, could not be reached for comment late Wednesday. The health plan pays for regular medical checkups and emergency surgery for those who cannot afford private health insurance. -- Christopher Goffard can be reached at 813-226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com.
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