Many of the collaborative contracts with clinics and physicians have since expired. The programming of the collaborative also has shrunk with the funding. In January it had $12.9 million compared with $21 million the year before.įunding the medical school: Central Health to Dell Medical School: Where does our $35 million go? That has been the case since the 2020 budget.Īfter DSRIP funding went away in September 2021, the Community Care Collaborative's coffers have been dwindling. In 2020, though, the audit showed $60 million in DSRIP funding with no contributions from Central Health or Ascension Seton for the collaborative's $60 million budget. Ascension Seton gave $208.3 million in payments and Central Health $137.3 million, Central Health said previously.Ī 2019 audit of the collaborative showed that DSRIP funds contributed $75 million, Ascension Seton gave $21 million and Central Health $35 million toward the collaborative's $127 million budget that year. Since 2012, $500.6 million in DSRIP funds have been received by the collaborative. Central Health and Ascension Seton created the Community Care Collaborative in part to manage those funds as well as to pool resources and coordinate care by setting up unified contracts with local health providers. That has been problematic because previous budgets included federal money known as Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment created to improve health care. Without a new budget set, the 2021, 20 fiscal years automatically had to follow the 2020 budget. The board has not been able to agree on a budget since 2020. It wants to be paid more by Central Health for the care it is providing.Ĭhanging health care: Head of Central Health stepping down in planned exit What happened to cause Ascension Texas to write this letter?Ĭommunity Care Collaborative's board is made up of three Central Health appointees and two Ascension Texas appointees. In the lawsuit with Ascension Texas, Central Health is asking for a judge to dissolve agreements between Central Health and Ascension Seton and to allow Central Health to take over running Dell Seton Medical Center.Īscension Texas wants to continue operating the area's safety-net hospital, which it has since 1995, before Central Health was created in 2004. Central Health has a ground lease and the University of Texas owns the land. "What we're focused on is building out a high-functioning safety-net health care system through partnerships and direct care services," Geeslin said.Īscension Seton is starting a $280 million expansion at Dell Seton Medical Center that will add four stories to one tower and another floor to a second tower of the safety-net hospital that opened in 2017. It also is planning for a clinic at Colony Park, renovating the Rosewood-Zaragosa clinic to provide more specialty care and buying a complex at 7901 Cameron Road in Northeast Austin to open a respite care clinic for people experiencing homelessness. This year it is opening up primary care clinics at Del Valle and Hornsby Bend. "We need to get back to coordinated services."Įxpanding care: Central Health raising $100 million to fund respite care clinic, renovations amid audit A growing Central Health and Ascension Texas footprintĬentral Health has announced plans that further move from a funder of health care to a provider of health care. "It's confusing for those seeking services," McHorse said. If the two health care entities don't work together, they could duplicate care, especially as Central Health is opening its own clinics. It also funds care provided through Dell Seton Medical Center, the area's safety net hospital run by Ascension Texas. It uses this taxpayer money to pay for patient care provided by clinics run by entities such as CommUnity Care, LoneStar Circle of Care and People's Community Clinic. It is funded by a property tax rate of 9.864 cents per $100 of valuation. Traditionally, Central Health is the funder and Ascension Texas is the provider.ĭueling lawsuits: Central Health, Ascension Seton sue each other in ongoing contract fightĬentral Health is legally tasked with providing care to anyone in Travis County living at or below 200% of poverty level, which is $59,356 for a family of four with two children younger than 18. Two separate roles in health careīoth groups provide care to the poorest people in Central Texas, but in different ways. "We have got to stop working in silos," said Ascension Texas attorney Ed McHorse of McGinnis Lochridge.Ĭentral Health sees it as a distraction to the lawsuits the two health entities filed against each other in January, said Central Health CEO and President Mike Geeslin. Ascension Texas, which includes Ascension Seton hospitals, sees this letter as a way to get both parties back to the negotiation table.
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