Health News
- Up To 1/3 Of Rural Hospitals In Poor Financial Shape, Auditor Finds, Calling Report A Baseline For Local Decisions That Could Be Tough
By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross Kentucky Health News For a video of Edelen's press conference, click here. For a cn|2 report with video, go here. FRANKFORT, Ky. -- As many as one-third of Kentucky's rural hospitals are in poor financial shape,...
- Most Rural Hospitals In Kentucky Are Struggling Financially And Looking For Ways To Survive
Most rural hospitals in Kentucky are loosing money, putting them at risk of closing if they don't find another way to do business, Miranda Combs reports for Lexington's WKYT-TV. More than 65 percent of Kentucky rural hospitals...
- Public Hearing To Be Held In Bowling Green Sept .19 To Discuss Fiscal Health Of Kentucky's Rural Hospitals
On Sept. 19 in Bowling Green, state Auditor of Public Accounts Adam Edelen will hold the last of 11 public hearings, which have been held across Kentucky this summer, to talk about the financial health of rural hospitals. These hearings, along with a...
- As Edelen Begins Hearings On Rural Hospitals' Finances, State Gives Figures On Medicaid Expansion And Reimbursement
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The expansion of the federal-state Medicaid program funneled $284 million to Kentucky health-care providers in the first quarter of the year, the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services says in a report prepared for...
- State Auditor Edelen Says State Must Fix Managed-care Issues That Have Put Rural Hospitals And Providers On Brink Of Survival
State Auditor Adam Edelen said last week that shoring up the financial base for rural hospitals in Kentucky is the number one challenge to the state's Medicaid managed-care system. The managed-care system has left rural hospitals at a tipping point...
Health News
Auditor will hold meetings in Prestonsburg, Princeton and Somerset to discuss his report on financial status of rural hospitals
State Auditor Adam Edelen will hold three public meetings in rural communities to discuss the findings of his special report about the financial health of rural hospitals.
The meetings will be held Monday, April 21 at 1 p.m. at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg; Monday, May 4 at 11 a.m. (CT) at the Caldwell County Memorial Hospital in Princeton; and Thursday, May 6 at 1 p.m. atthe Liberty center of Somerset Community College.
The report, which covers fiscal years 2011 through 2013, found that as many as one-third of Kentucky's rural hospitals were in poor financial shape, with 68 percent of them ranking below the national average financially.
?Although closure may be an unfortunate reality for some," Edelen said in the press conference, "I believe more can and should be done to help these hospitals rethink their models of business in delivering health care in the 21st century." He went on to suggest rural hospitals consider hiring outside managers, merge with larger hospitals, form coalitions with other rural hospitals or find a specialized health niche as possible alternate business models to consider.
The report calls for the creation of a state work group to monitor rural hospitals, including making sure state law gives them the flexibility to retool their business models. Susan Zepeda, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, suggested that the proposed work "could be incorporated into the work already under way under a State Innovation Model grant, which is engaging many sectors of health service in Kentucky in an ambitious, collaborative redesign effort."
The report suggested that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services negotiate better contracts with managed-care organizations as it approaches the June 30 deadline, especially to address provider payments, stricter penalties for non-compliance and increased administrative burdens that managed care has put on hospitals. Edelen and Haynes sounded hopeful that this was going to happen.
Gov. Steve Beshear called Edelen's report "a dated snapshot" because the 2013 data used in the report does not include 2014 information,when the federal health reform was fully implemented through expansion of Medicaid to people with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line. Beshear said hospitals received $506 million to care for such people in 2014 while seeing significant reductions in losses on patients who couldn't or wouldn't pay.
Edelen's spokeswoman, Stephenie Hoelscher, said in an email that Edelen believes the full effect of all the changes in health care to hospitals' bottom line is still not clear, and his report establishes a baseline for critical analysis going forward.
The meetings will be held Monday, April 21 at 1 p.m. at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg; Monday, May 4 at 11 a.m. (CT) at the Caldwell County Memorial Hospital in Princeton; and Thursday, May 6 at 1 p.m. at
The report, which covers fiscal years 2011 through 2013, found that as many as one-third of Kentucky's rural hospitals were in poor financial shape, with 68 percent of them ranking below the national average financially.
?Although closure may be an unfortunate reality for some," Edelen said in the press conference, "I believe more can and should be done to help these hospitals rethink their models of business in delivering health care in the 21st century." He went on to suggest rural hospitals consider hiring outside managers, merge with larger hospitals, form coalitions with other rural hospitals or find a specialized health niche as possible alternate business models to consider.
The report calls for the creation of a state work group to monitor rural hospitals, including making sure state law gives them the flexibility to retool their business models. Susan Zepeda, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, suggested that the proposed work "could be incorporated into the work already under way under a State Innovation Model grant, which is engaging many sectors of health service in Kentucky in an ambitious, collaborative redesign effort."
Edelen said some of the primary problems faced by rural hospitals stem from the many changes in health care since the inception of Medicaid managed care, a decrease in the number of health-care providers, and an economic climate in some areas that doesn't support the current health payment model, which depends on the majority of its users to have private health insurance.
The report suggested that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services negotiate better contracts with managed-care organizations as it approaches the June 30 deadline, especially to address provider payments, stricter penalties for non-compliance and increased administrative burdens that managed care has put on hospitals. Edelen and Haynes sounded hopeful that this was going to happen.
Gov. Steve Beshear called Edelen's report "a dated snapshot" because the 2013 data used in the report does not include 2014 information,when the federal health reform was fully implemented through expansion of Medicaid to people with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line. Beshear said hospitals received $506 million to care for such people in 2014 while seeing significant reductions in losses on patients who couldn't or wouldn't pay.
Edelen's spokeswoman, Stephenie Hoelscher, said in an email that Edelen believes the full effect of all the changes in health care to hospitals' bottom line is still not clear, and his report establishes a baseline for critical analysis going forward.
- Up To 1/3 Of Rural Hospitals In Poor Financial Shape, Auditor Finds, Calling Report A Baseline For Local Decisions That Could Be Tough
By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross Kentucky Health News For a video of Edelen's press conference, click here. For a cn|2 report with video, go here. FRANKFORT, Ky. -- As many as one-third of Kentucky's rural hospitals are in poor financial shape,...
- Most Rural Hospitals In Kentucky Are Struggling Financially And Looking For Ways To Survive
Most rural hospitals in Kentucky are loosing money, putting them at risk of closing if they don't find another way to do business, Miranda Combs reports for Lexington's WKYT-TV. More than 65 percent of Kentucky rural hospitals...
- Public Hearing To Be Held In Bowling Green Sept .19 To Discuss Fiscal Health Of Kentucky's Rural Hospitals
On Sept. 19 in Bowling Green, state Auditor of Public Accounts Adam Edelen will hold the last of 11 public hearings, which have been held across Kentucky this summer, to talk about the financial health of rural hospitals. These hearings, along with a...
- As Edelen Begins Hearings On Rural Hospitals' Finances, State Gives Figures On Medicaid Expansion And Reimbursement
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The expansion of the federal-state Medicaid program funneled $284 million to Kentucky health-care providers in the first quarter of the year, the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services says in a report prepared for...
- State Auditor Edelen Says State Must Fix Managed-care Issues That Have Put Rural Hospitals And Providers On Brink Of Survival
State Auditor Adam Edelen said last week that shoring up the financial base for rural hospitals in Kentucky is the number one challenge to the state's Medicaid managed-care system. The managed-care system has left rural hospitals at a tipping point...