Letter: Carson-Tahoe Hospital

I have followed the discussions on the fate of the Carson-Tahoe Hospital. I too am concerned about the indigent care. You have been very diligent in making sure that future boards will not be saddled with increased costs because of having to pay for indigent care. The hospital's plan to place a time limit on how long they will assume the cost of indigent care is not in

the best interest of the citizens of Carson City. I hope you will not bend

on this clause of the contract.

There is another concern that I have that I have not heard discussed. All hospitals must accept patients who come into the emergency room. The hospital must stabilize the patient and then they can ship the patient off to another facility. I am concerned that the "new" Carson-Tahoe Hospital when it becomes a "not for profit" hospital, will decide not to accept

Medicare patients.

No facility has to accept Medicare. I don't want the local hospital to stabilize me and then ship me off to a hospital in Reno that accepts Medicare. When a medical facility accepts direct payment from Medicare, the patient costs are limited and known. If the hospital after becoming "not for profit" decides to not take Medicare, a lot of citizens in Carson City will be damaged. I hope that you, the board, make it a requirement that as long as there is Medicare the hospital will accept Medicare direct payments. Without this additional clause you should not allow the hospital to become a "not for profit" private hospital.

The transfer will be transparent to the citizens of Carson City if the indigent care does not have a time limit and the transfer requires the "new" facility to accept Medicare.

I hope you agree with me and continue to insure that the transfer is in the best interest of all the citizens, not special interest groups.