The Indiana Publisher

Page 2 August 2022 HSPA Board of Directors HSPA Foundation Board Members Bill Hackney, e La Porte County Herald-Dispatch (Michigan City) and e Rochester Sentinel Don Hurd, Hoosier Media Group Gillian Kelk, Sullivan Daily Times Brenda McLane, Hometown Media Group Mark Miller, e News-Banner (Bluon) Kathy Tretter, Ferdinand News and Spencer County Leader (Rockport) HSPA Board Members Nathan Feltman, Indianapolis Business Journal Bud Hunt, AIM Media Indiana Curt Kovener, e Crothersville Times Robert Shegog, Indianapolis Recorder Chris White, e Times Media Co. HSPA Board of Directors HSPA Officers President: Larry Hensley, e Hoosier Times HSPA Foundation Board of Directors HSPA Foundation Officers President: Robyn McCloskey, CNHI HSPA Staff Amelia McClure, executive director, general counsel admclure@hspa.com (317) 803-4772 Pamela Lego, director of operations plego@hspa.com (812) 350-7711 Shawn Goldsby, business manager sgoldsby@hspa.com (317) 803-4772 Ruth Witmer, communications specialist news@hspa.com (812) 855-5898 e Indiana Publisher is published monthly by the Hoosier State Press Association, 429 E. Vermont St. #206 Indianapolis, Indiana 46202 Looking for newspaper employee or job? Check out the HSPA job listings at hspa.com/jobs and every month in the Indiana Publisher. Questions? Email sgoldsby@hspa.com. Regional Health, Henry Community Health, Johnson Memorial Health, Major Health Partners, Rush Memorial Hospital, Witham Health Services and Riverview Health. Together, those hospitals own more than 250 of the state's 527 nursing homes. The funds in question are supplemental Medicaid dollars that are distributed to hospitals through the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, according to the lawsuit. The funds are provided based on how many Medicaid enrollees a hospital has in its nursing home facilities, although the hospitals aren't required to use the funds for nursing home services. The funds are available only to government-owned nursing homes, and represent a boost of about 50% to 60% on top of what a private nursing home would receive in Medicaid payments. Indiana receives more of that supplemental Medicaid funding than any other state in the country. The practice of diverting nursing home funds to other uses was documented in the 2020 IndyStar investigation "Careless," which found that county hospitals exploit state and federal rules so they can divert the funds to pad their bottom lines and pay for hospital construction projects and other projects unrelated to nursing home care. Since the mid-2000s, at least $1 billion in Medicaid nursing home funds distributed to public hospitals in Indiana were never used to benefit nursing homes and the vulnerable patients that rely on them, according to the investigation. That amount is just for hospitals that responded to IndyStar's request for information. It does not include money diverted by the hospitals named in the lawsuit. In 2021, Cook sent a public records request to 20 Indiana hospitals to ask for information on how much of the nursing home funding they had received was going toward nursing home care. Twelve hospitals shared those amounts after some initially declined to provide the information. The eight hospital systems named in IndyStar's lawsuit, however, declined to provide the records. They claimed the requested information contained trade secrets, or competitive informa- tion. They said disclosing the amount of money they spend on their nursing homes could allow other county hospitals to poach the private management companies they use to operate the facilities. Two hospitals — Riverview Health and Rush Memorial Hospital— didn't provide any explanation for their denial. Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt — a state employee who reviews and issues advisory opinions on public records disputes — sided with the hospitals after Cook submitted a formal complaint to the counselor's office. Britt's decision that the hospitals could withhold the information came after he reviewed confidential records provided during a private meeting with Hancock Regional Hospital CEO Steve Long and attorney Tim Kennedy, who represents the Indiana Hospital Association. Zachary Baiel, president of the Indiana Coalition for Open Government, told IndyStar in 2021 that taxpayers should have a right to know how their tax money is being spent by the hospitals. "Currently, the public is supposed to not ask questions and blindly trust that each hospital is making sound decisions in their negotiation of contracts, allocation of (supplemental Medicaid) funds, and other operating areas," Baiel said in an email. The lack of disclosure "is unacceptable, undemocratic, and further erodes any remain- ing confidence the public may have on these matters," he added. IndyStar's lawsuit is requesting that the hospitals provide the records and pay for any legal fees incurred by IndyStar. Star Continued from Page 1 The practice of diverting nursing home funds to other uses was documented in the 2020 IndyStar investigation "Careless," which found that county hospitals exploit state and federal rules so they can divert the funds to pad their bottom lines and pay for hospital construction projects and other projects unrelated to nursing home care.

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