There is a powerful video message being disseminated among community hospitals, their employees and other stakeholders about the critical situation that non-state, community hospitals—such as Lake Charles Memorial Hospital and Memorial Hospital for Women—are facing as the state continues to cut Medicaid funding.

Since February 2009, the state has cut Medicaid service payments to non-state, community hospitals by over $140 million. For many hospital services, that is a drastic 15 percent rate cut, which puts service payment rates at early 1990s levels.

“These cuts force hospitals to make tough financial decisions that negatively impact critical, life-saving healthcare services and hospital employees,” said John Matessino, Louisiana Hospital Association (LHA) president and CEO. “Gov. Jindal will be announcing the Executive Budget on February 12, and hospitals are preparing for even deeper cuts to the Medicaid program that will further devastate them and their patients.”

As the first step in a public awareness campaign to restore hospital funding and eliminate devastating cuts to the Medicaid program, LHA created this video to generate phone calls and emails to Gov. Jindal. Since this past Friday, the LHA video message has been emailed and distributed via social networking channels, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, by community hospitals, their employees, healthcare stakeholders and community members that are concerned about the future of their hospital services.

Memorial Hospital and the LHA urge everyone to watch the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFsNDloxPmA and “pass it on.” Then call Gov. Jindal’s office at (225) 342-7015 or constituent services at (225) 342-0991, or email him at Bobby.Jindal@la.gov. Ask him to “stop cutting community hospitals, restore their funding, and protect healthcare workers in Louisiana so that they can continue to provide quality healthcare to their communities.”