Hospital Closures

[undalay]

Madera Community Hospital closing will have far reaching impact

The imminent closing of Madera Community Hospital will have a far reaching impact.The Sheriff's Office, police departments, ambulance companies and public healt

kmph.com

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article270546117.html

Small community hospital closing down in Madera, California. Unless the government steps up and guarantees to cover the debt incurred in providing medical care.

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[nimbus]

Like the AMC thread below, underserved areas become more underserved. Winners get all the spoils.

 

[Fpg1245]

Madera Community Hospital closing will have far reaching impact

The imminent closing of Madera Community Hospital will have a far reaching impact.The Sheriff's Office, police departments, ambulance companies and public healt

kmph.com

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article270546117.html

Small community hospital closing down in Madera, California. Unless the government steps up and guarantees to cover the debt incurred in providing medical care.

The government won't cover the debts because they insist all medical care should be free.

 

[nycitygas]

This is just the beginning

 

[narcotics999]

Another one:

Hazel Hawkins faces possible closure in 2023 - SanBenito.com | Hollister, San Juan Bautista, CA

Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital employees received notices this week indicating the Hollister hospital could close as soon as February 2023, according to HHMH administrators. The hospital’s issuing of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARN) to its employees follows a string of...

sanbenito.com

 

[drmwvr]

Madera Community Hospital closing will have far reaching impact

The imminent closing of Madera Community Hospital will have a far reaching impact.The Sheriff's Office, police departments, ambulance companies and public healt

kmph.com

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article270546117.html

Small community hospital closing down in Madera, California. Unless the government steps up and guarantees to cover the debt incurred in providing medical care.

The majority of the patients served by these hospitals are insured by California and Medicare. From an AHA assessment, for what that's worth:

...both Medicare and Medicaid reimburse less than the cost of providing these services. This resulted in rural hospitals incurring $5.8 billion in Medicare underpayments and $1.2 billion in Medicaid underpayments in 2020, on top of $4.6 billion in uncompensated care provided by rural hospitals. For Medicare reimbursements in particular, these underpayments grew by nearly 40% from 2016 to 2020. Medicare sequester cuts, which to fully resumed July 1, will further strain rural hospital finances.

Seems to me an option is for "not-for-profit" regional mother ships to be incentivized to suck up these little satellites as feeders. These places could stay open years ago when no one expected any real care from them but now with each of these places having CT/MRI more sophisticated surgical/diagnostic capabilities, of course they're having staffing/money problems. These little places were never historically meant to replace medical center level care and now they are. It was one of the trade offs of living in BFE....the events of the past 2 years just accelerated the inevitable IMHO.

 

[ambiturner]

At a certain point the govt is going to have to acknowledge they can’t keep cutting reimbursement to hospitals and in fact are due for an adjustment up. Cuts and budget freezes worked when inflation was near zero for 40 years and no one noticed their purchasing power being gradually eroded away but hospital labor costs have skyrocketed the past 2 years, in part because of loose fiscal policy. Physicians can take it on the chin for a few more years and still appear to be ‘overpaid’ to the general public but there are nurses at my hospital making overtime hourly rates approaching the anesthesia locums rates quoted on this site. That’s just not sustainable without increased revenue or a demand crash.

 

[Xman5678]

At a certain point the govt is going to have to acknowledge they can’t keep cutting reimbursement to hospitals and in fact are due for an adjustment up. Cuts and budget freezes worked when inflation was near zero for 40 years and no one noticed their purchasing power being gradually eroded away but hospital labor costs have skyrocketed the past 2 years, in part because of loose fiscal policy. Physicians can take it on the chin for a few more years and still appear to be ‘overpaid’ to the general public but there are nurses at my hospital making overtime hourly rates approaching the anesthesia locums rates quoted on this site. That’s just not sustainable without increased revenue or a demand crash.

They will. After lots of hospital closures and consolidations. Not to mention drops in quality and availability of care.

 

[Fpg1245]

At a certain point the govt is going to have to acknowledge they can’t keep cutting reimbursement to hospitals and in fact are due for an adjustment up. Cuts and budget freezes worked when inflation was near zero for 40 years and no one noticed their purchasing power being gradually eroded away but hospital labor costs have skyrocketed the past 2 years, in part because of loose fiscal policy. Physicians can take it on the chin for a few more years and still appear to be ‘overpaid’ to the general public but there are nurses at my hospital making overtime hourly rates approaching the anesthesia locums rates quoted on this site. That’s just not sustainable without increased revenue or a demand crash.

But you see the collective delusion that they can cut their way to better outcomes and access.

 

[DocVapor]

They will. After lots of hospital closures and consolidations. Not to mention drops in quality and availability of care.

Don't forget the further huge increases in admin staff! That's the best part!

 

[nycitygas]

At a certain point the govt is going to have to acknowledge they can’t keep cutting reimbursement to hospitals and in fact are due for an adjustment up. Cuts and budget freezes worked when inflation was near zero for 40 years and no one noticed their purchasing power being gradually eroded away but hospital labor costs have skyrocketed the past 2 years, in part because of loose fiscal policy. Physicians can take it on the chin for a few more years and still appear to be ‘overpaid’ to the general public but there are nurses at my hospital making overtime hourly rates approaching the anesthesia locums rates quoted on this site. That’s just not sustainable without increased revenue or a demand crash.

my hospital is squeezing the surgical sub specialist call pay while paying traveler nurses $100+/hr.

 

[teacher2md]

Times are rough indeed:

Lancaster General rescinds $25 per employee holiday gift amid 'challenging economic times' - Becker's Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis

Lancaster (Pa.) General Health System, part of Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine, canceled employee holiday bonuses because of rising costs, inflation and "radical changes" in healthcare, according to LNP | Lancaster Online.

www.beckershospitalreview.com

Lol this reads like an Onion article.