OCEAN COUNTY – Members of the Board of Ocean County Commissioners introduced an ordinance during their last meeting, that would establish the New Jersey County Option Hospital Fee program to aid low-income residents.
This will help increase funding for hospitals in the County. Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners Joseph H. Vicari said prior to the meeting that he was excited about the effort to aid low-income residents in consistently receiving proper medical care and services at Ocean County hospitals.
“It will be very beneficial,” Vicari said. “The greatest benefit of this program will be to the critically vulnerable population. This will provide the funds for essential health programs and services to mothers and children, the elderly and all those who are low income and worry about getting important medical care.”
It makes hospitals eligible for matching federal funds. Through a series of steps with the state and federal governments, the program returns almost double the funds to the hospitals to help assure Medicaid patients reliably receive treatment and other health care services.
While not present during that Board meeting, Ocean County Commissioner Virginia E. Haines had brought the proposal to the Board of Commissioners.
She explained “this program is authorized by the County Option Hospital Fee Program Act, enacted by the state in 2018 and later amended in 2021 to support local hospitals in designated high need areas to ensure continued Medicaid access to critical health care services for needy and vulnerable populations.”
Haines. “Simply put, by becoming a part of this program, our participating hospitals will receive about $41 million, almost twice the fee assessed under the program.”
Ocean County is one of 12 eligible counties to join the program and would also receive a future financial benefit of about $2 million annually as a result of participating in it. Under the program, the hospitals will be assessed a fee totaling about $22.7 million to be used as matching funds for the Medicaid program. In return local hospitals will receive about $41 million.
“We had discussions with the hospitals in Ocean County and they are in favor of participating in this program,” Haines said. “The additional funding the hospitals will receive will help cover the costs related to providing quality health care services for low-income individuals and families receiving Medicaid. Participating hospitals all serve Medicaid patients.”
John W. Doll, chief operating officer for RWJBarnabas Health said, “on behalf of our participating hospitals, Community Medical Center, Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, and the RWJBarnabas Health Behavioral Health Center, RWJBarnabas Health commends the leadership of Ocean County in its evaluation, design and decision to move forward towards the implementation of this innovative program.”
“The County Option Hospital Program enables hospitals within Ocean County to partner with County leadership to optimize Medicaid dollars to better serve our patients and community members. Through this unique partnership the State, County and hospitals are able to improve the NJ Medicaid program through increased reimbursement rates to maintain critical access and hospital services,” Doll added.
Doll thanked Ocean County for their engagement to date and said he looked forward “to the ongoing partnership for the benefit of our Ocean County residents.”
Haines explained, “the purpose of the program is to increase financial resources through the Medicaid program to support local hospitals and to ensure that they continue to provide vital health care services to low-income citizens.”
The ordinance’s second reading and public hearing will be at the Board’s April 19 meeting.
