Lawmakers on the Senate Budget, Appropriations and Finance Committee grilled Luis Hospital leadership about the health care center’s billing and collections Friday, nearly four months after a cyberattack hamstrung JFL’s operations.
JFL’s Chief Executive Officer, Darlene Baptiste, led testimony in support of an expected $86.6 million operating budget for 2026, which includes $30.25 million in appropriated funds. Baptiste said the hospital is projecting nearly $85 million in revenues next year against an estimated $38.7 million in uncompensated care costs and more than $21 million in arrears.
Under questioning by Sen. Novelle Francis Jr., who chairs the Finance Committee, Baptiste and JFL’s interim senior vice president of finance, Rosalie Javois, acknowledged that collections in 2025 fell well below the mark, at least in the first six months of the fiscal year. JFL billed for $11.3 million and collected $6.35 million. In 2024, the hospital collected closer to $42 million.
“We’re in dire need of infusion,” Baptiste admitted.
“Dire need of collection?” Francis asked.
“That too,” Baptiste replied. “Both.”
Sen. Hubert Frederick later noted that “the opportunity for JFL is in the receivables.”
“I’ve been looking at this and I said, you know, in spite of all the challenges we see with this hospital, you guys have billed — you just can’t collect, or we’re not collecting as much as you should,” he said. “Where is the opportunity in us now working towards investing in collecting that money?”
During her prepared testimony, Baptiste mentioned that the hospital recently engaged with professional services company First Source USA to strengthen revenue cycle operations through “improvements in patient access services, financial counseling, billing, coding, charge, capture and clearinghouse functions.”
“What’s the net difference that we could realize for that?” Frederick asked. “Because now, it’s gonna cost us — that’s another payable now. We’re going to have to pay them to do this, to collect on debt, and so it’s going to reduce our net margin that we’re supposed to be getting.”
Accounting for First Source’s percentage — which Baptiste said the hospital could not disclose — overhead and administrative costs, Baptiste put the amount at 60-65 percent of billings.
“That’s a substantial discount,” Frederick noted. “But okay, it is what it is.”
Senate Majority Leader Kurt Vialet later said the hospital will never realize “any state of equilibrium if we don’t collect.”
“The cyberattack is one thing, and I understand that and I’m seeing the hard work that’s … taking place right now in order to collect,” he said. “But prior to the cyberattack, those individuals that are tasked with collecting are just not doing what they’re supposed to do. And I just need to publicly say that, because they make everything harder. Because no matter how much money we put in, if we’re not charging for what we’re putting out — when we know, we already don’t get back 100 percent from Medicaid and those other entities — it literally cripples the ability of the hospital to function.”