More MPTF Woes: Medi-Cal Cuts Will Mean 22% Reduction in Reimbursements

Despite the cuts, CEO Bob Beitcher reaffirmed that the organization is committed to maintaining long-term care on its campus

The Motion Picture and Television Fund has been hit hard this week by the news that a federal agency has approved a reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement rates.

The cuts will mean as much as a 22 percent reduction of approximately $2.2 million in revenues for the campus’ long term care and Alzheimer’s patients, MPTF CEO Bob Beitcher wrote in a blog post.

The organization has struggled financially in recent years — even announcing a now abandoned but controversial plan to shutter its money-losing hospital.

This week’s news can’t help the situation.

Beitcher wrote that the decision by the California Department of Health Services will be challenged in court and that it would explore third party partnerships as a way to shoulder the financial burden.

He reaffirmed that the organization was committed to maintaining long-term care on its campus despite the cuts.

“We can’t just say ‘we’re not going to take this any more’ and walk away from providing service to the frail and elderly seniors in our industry who need our support the most,” Beitcher wrote. 

Saving the Lives of Our Own, the grassroots organization that formed to protest the hospital’s closure, said it would join the MPTF’s court challenge as amicus plaintiffs.

“Saving the Lives of Our Own is heartened by the MPTF's commitment to the weakest and most and vulnerable members of industry families, and by its pursuit of the Medi-Cal funding issue in court,” the organization said in a statement.  

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