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Medicaid refunds $8.4 million to LBJ under ACA Disaster Relief Act

Photo of LBJ Hospital sign
Source: American Samoa Medicaid State Agency media release

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Last week Thursday, the American Samoa Medicaid State Agency issued a refund check for $8,478,627.94 to the LBJ Hospital pursuant to the availability of the 100% Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) provided in the Disaster Relief Act (DRA) of 2019.

The regular FMAP for the territory is 45% and the federal government pays 55%.

When the DRA was passed on June 6, 2019, with the 100% FMAP for the federal share, American Samoa was eligible to recoup any local match funding that was spent on Medicaid services going back to January 1, 2019.

But it was uncertain whether LBJ would be able to receive this refund because the Medicaid program does not actually pay out the local match for the hospital. That local match comes directly to the hospital in the form of ASG subsidies.

Medicaid requested a confirmation for LBJ to receive this benefit under its certified public expenditure payment method. Last week, CMS confirmed LBJ's eligibility and Medicaid calculated the refund and requested the drawdown of $8.4 million for LBJ.

LBJ will continue to receive 100% FMAP of $2.9 million for its monthly draw through September.