ABC-7 Listens: Who pays for uninsured trauma patients at UMC?
Who foots the bill for trauma care at University Medical Center when the patient can’t pay? That’s a question poised by an ABC-7 viewer.
Frances asked ABC-7 via Facebook, “I want to know who pays for the medical bills when someone is brought here from Las Cruces to UMC for medical care (assuming they can’t pay). Does Dona Ana County have an agreement with El Paso County or do the citizens of El Paso pay?”
ABC-7 took the question to UMC’s nursing director for the emergency department, Blas Meza.
“We are the county hospital, so we are compensated by tax dollars,” said Meza. “As far as agreements, no, unfortunately, we do not have any agreements with state or federal agencies that can compensate us for unfunded care.”
Meza said the hospital uses taxpayer dollars to cover those costs, which is, and always has been, UMC’s mission: to care for those regardless of their ability to pay.
“As a county hospital and a Level 1 trauma center, we provide care for anyone who shows up at our doorsteps,” said Meza.
UMC spokesman Ryan Mielke told ABC-7 some states have funds available to hospitals like UMC for emergency care.
“(But) they’re not that large to handle all the costs that are associated with these trauma victims,” Mielke explained.
UMC cared for 6,404 trauma patients from Oct. 2013 to Sept. 30, 2014. Of those, 1,208, or 19 percent, were out-of-county and international patients. And of those patients, 336 — about 28 percent — were unfunded.
“We’re here to provide a service. We are here to help whether compensated or uncompensated, regardless of ability to pay, we provide services to everyone,” Meza said.
Meza and Mielke stressed that UMC is the only Level 1 trauma center within a 270 mile radius and is the first choice for critical cases coming from West Texas and Southern New Mexico.
