Funds transfer to UAMS approved

The Joint Budget Committee on Thursday approved the transfer of $4 million in state-restricted reserve funds to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

UAMS requested $4 million in state-restricted reserve funds to support the rural hospital reclassification efforts of UAMS as part of the expansion of graduate medical education programs in the state, UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson said in a letter dated Jan. 26 to state Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Larry Walther.

Walther recommended the Joint Budget Committee authorize the transfer of the restricted reserve funds to UAMS.

Patterson said the funding will cover UAMS’ Medicare deficit for the 15-month period of time during which the rural hospital reclassification process occurs.

Afterward, Amanda George, UAMS chief financial officer, said in a written statement that “the ‘deficit’ is related to a temporary reduction in our Medicare payments due to being classified as rural.”

She said the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “has a lower wage index adjustment for rural hospitals,” and “UAMS has already been approved by CMS to reclass to the urban wage index, but won’t take effect until Oct 1. The support from the state will offset this reduction in payment until then.”

Patterson wrote in his letter to Walther that “once complete, additional dollars created from this mechanism will allow UAMS to create up to seventeen new [graduate medical education] programs throughout the state resulting in 94 additional positions, including 34 first year positions in critical areas such as Preventive Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Obstetrics, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Anesthesiology, and additional funding to cover expenses for current residents above the cap.”