MUSC Children's Hospital - More aid for Medicaid

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More aid for Medicaid

Area families to lobby in D.C. for MUSC Children's Hospital

By Jill Coley
The Post and Courier
Monday, June 16, 2008

Nurse Jodie Powell preps Amauri Bowman, 9, for a blood transfusion at MUSC Children's Hospital on June 13 while Amauri's mother, April, waits. The Bowmans are traveling to Washington today to lobby for increased Medicaid funding for pediatric hospitals.
Credit: Melissa Haneline/The Post and Courier

Healthy red blood cells are round and soft. But those circulating through 9-year-old Amauri Bowman's body can become hard and pointed, clumping together and blocking blood flow.

Amauri has sickle cell anemia. When her own blood blocks her vessels, she feels debilitating pain lasting as long as three days.

Having the Medical University of South Carolina Children's Hospital nearby is vital, said April Bowman, Amauri's mother. 'Pain can strike anytime,' she said.

The Bowman family is traveling to Washington today to lobby for federal support of children's hospitals through better Medicaid funding. They will join families served by more than 30 hospitals across the country in an effort organized by the National Association of Children's Hospitals.

More than 50 percent of the patients seen at MUSC Children's Hospital receive Medicaid, according to hospital Administrator John Sanders. '(The legislators') decisions on funding affect the services we provide,' Sanders said.

Medicaid payments to children's hospitals are low, covering only about 79 percent of what providing care actually costs, according to the National Association of Children's Hospitals.

There are about 250 children's hospitals in the U.S., comprising 5 percent of all hospitals, the association reported. Children's hospitals offer highly specialized care for children with complex and rare conditions. This month, U.S. News & World Report ranked MUSC's pediatric hospital 19th for its heart and heart surgery services.

Sam DeLongchamps, 3, and his parents, Dean Stephens DeLongchamps and Caroline DeLongchamps, are going to the capital on behalf of MUSC's Children's Hospital. WCIV anchorman Stephens does not use his full name on air.

In 2005, Sam suffered a horrific head injury when Nina Sossamon, a former WCIV anchor who worked with Dean Stephens and lived in the same neighborhood, accidentally ran over the then-11-month-old in the driveway of the family's Mount Pleasant home.

'His head was smushed flat like a pancake,' Caroline DeLongchamps said. She apologized for being so graphic. 'How can I make you understand really what happened and how they were able to help him?'

Sam underwent reconstructive surgery and was released three weeks after the accident. He will face cosmetic issues, his mother said. Otherwise, Sam is a bubbly, energetic child.

Medicaid is important to the DeLongchamps because Medicaid funding affects what services hospitals can afford to provide. 'The governor and the president are trying to cut Medicaid, which will in turn affect services,' Caroline DeLongchamps said.

In addition to funding, Medicaid eligibility is a concern, Sanders said. Many children come to the hospital who might be eligible but are not yet signed up. It's a concern how many hoops those children and their parents have to jump through to get coverage, he said.

Requirements for the State Children's Health Insurance Program are in flux on a federal and state level, he said. Recently, Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed a South Carolina cigarette tax increase that could have been used to raise the income threshold for that insurance.

Families talking directly to legislators helps them understand what children's hospitals mean to the community, Sanders said. 'These families have had their kids go through some pretty rough times.'