How will the new location impact services to the poor?
Metropolitan already qualifies for disproportionate-share reimbursement, because it treats a higher-than-average number of Medicaid recipients. This is not expected to change. Medicaid recipients, like all patients, are referred from the offices of the numerous primary care physicians on staff at Metro. Those offices are widely dispersed in the community and are not moving. Because of improved access to expressways, the new hospital location will be as easy, if not easier, to reach for most existing patients. And it will clearly be more accessible to the underserved individuals living in and around southwest Kent County.
