For years, hospitals have lamented low reimbursement from the state's Medicaid program, called the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.
Earlier this year, they came up with a plan to cover AHCCCS reimbursement shortfalls in the form of a self-assessed fee that would allow the state to receive $1.1 billion in federal matching funds.
On Wednesday, Gov. Doug Ducey signed the Health Care Investment Act that will generate a $354 million outpatient hospital assessment that will be used to draw down that billion-dollar cache of federal matching funds.
The action will provide critical resources needed to meet the growing demand for services across the state, said Jennifer Carusetta, executive director of the Health System Alliance of Arizona, which represents the state's largest hospital systems and more than 76,000 employees.
