Health News
- 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...
- Fulton Hospital Says It Will Close By March 31 Due To Shrinking Population And Patient Counts
Citing population losses and lower patient counts, Community Health Systems has announced that it will close Parkway Regional Hospital in Fulton by March 31. The hospital has 70 beds, larger than most rural hospitals that have closed recently. The...
- Ky. Hospital Association Defends 'critical Access' Designation That Gives Small, Rural Hospitals A Federal Financial Boost
The Kentucky Hospital Association came out strongly for continued federal support of small, rural hospitals Thursday, objecting to a proposal that the "critical access hospital" designation be based entirely on distance from other hospitals. Kentucky...
- Knox County Converting Ambulance Tax, Taking 3/8 Of Health Tax And Asking Library For Same In Order To Save Hospital
The Knox County Fiscal Court and the Knox County Board of Health reached a deal Monday to aid its debt-laden county hospital's recovery from bankruptcy by diverting, at least temporarily, 37.5 percent of local health tax revenue to the hospital, asking...
- As Debt Deepens And Auditors Arrive, Adair County Hospital Ceo Resigns And Is Apparently Escorted From The Building
The CEO of Westlake Regional Hospital in Columbia "resigned Monday morning and was apparently escorted out of the hospital," reports the Adair County Community Voice. Rusty Tungate "and eight others turned in their resignations just one day before a consulting...
Health News
Carlisle hospital closes, making Nicholas County the 40th Kentucky county without a hospital
Fully one-third of Kentucky's counties will not have a hospital, following the closure of Nicholas County Hospital in Carlisle. That will make Nicholas the 40th county without a hospital, according to the Kentucky Hospital Association.
The hospital board said it searched "every possible option to keep the hospital open," but it has filed for bankruptcy and will close later this week, reports WLEX-TV. Officials reported that the 14-bed hospital was losing more than $100,000 per month, which they say resulted from a decrease in the number of patients and slow state and federal reimbursements, Sam Smith reports for WKYT-TV.
"It's a trickle-down effect that's going to impact the entire community and then there's the more critical life-saving aspect. There's a number of people within the community who are alive today because they were able to receive treatment at the hospital," hospital spokesman Stephen Scalf told WKYT.
Scalf said the hospital's clinics will close by Friday except for one rural health clinic that will likely remain open. Johnson Mathers Nursing Home, which operates on the same campus as the hospital, will not close. "Nicholas County Hospital is operated by a private nonprofit organization, JMHC Inc., and has 44 full-time and 40 part-time employees who are being laid off," Karla Ward reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The hospital's board said in a news release that it has been negatively affected by a national transition to "larger, urban-centered hospitals' that had forced many other rural health centers to close."
The fiscal court will be looking for options to create an "urgent treatment or ambulatory care facility that will provide for the community's medical needs in the future," WLEX reports. The county owns the hospital's property, and Judge-Executive Mike Pryor said other healthcare provers are considering taking over the space, Smith reports. "It's just another hit to us," said Pryor. "It's going to be something we are going to have to deal with, like we have in the past."
The hospital board said it searched "every possible option to keep the hospital open," but it has filed for bankruptcy and will close later this week, reports WLEX-TV. Officials reported that the 14-bed hospital was losing more than $100,000 per month, which they say resulted from a decrease in the number of patients and slow state and federal reimbursements, Sam Smith reports for WKYT-TV.
"It's a trickle-down effect that's going to impact the entire community and then there's the more critical life-saving aspect. There's a number of people within the community who are alive today because they were able to receive treatment at the hospital," hospital spokesman Stephen Scalf told WKYT.
Scalf said the hospital's clinics will close by Friday except for one rural health clinic that will likely remain open. Johnson Mathers Nursing Home, which operates on the same campus as the hospital, will not close. "Nicholas County Hospital is operated by a private nonprofit organization, JMHC Inc., and has 44 full-time and 40 part-time employees who are being laid off," Karla Ward reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The hospital's board said in a news release that it has been negatively affected by a national transition to "larger, urban-centered hospitals' that had forced many other rural health centers to close."
The fiscal court will be looking for options to create an "urgent treatment or ambulatory care facility that will provide for the community's medical needs in the future," WLEX reports. The county owns the hospital's property, and Judge-Executive Mike Pryor said other healthcare provers are considering taking over the space, Smith reports. "It's just another hit to us," said Pryor. "It's going to be something we are going to have to deal with, like we have in the past."
- 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...
- Fulton Hospital Says It Will Close By March 31 Due To Shrinking Population And Patient Counts
Citing population losses and lower patient counts, Community Health Systems has announced that it will close Parkway Regional Hospital in Fulton by March 31. The hospital has 70 beds, larger than most rural hospitals that have closed recently. The...
- Ky. Hospital Association Defends 'critical Access' Designation That Gives Small, Rural Hospitals A Federal Financial Boost
The Kentucky Hospital Association came out strongly for continued federal support of small, rural hospitals Thursday, objecting to a proposal that the "critical access hospital" designation be based entirely on distance from other hospitals. Kentucky...
- Knox County Converting Ambulance Tax, Taking 3/8 Of Health Tax And Asking Library For Same In Order To Save Hospital
The Knox County Fiscal Court and the Knox County Board of Health reached a deal Monday to aid its debt-laden county hospital's recovery from bankruptcy by diverting, at least temporarily, 37.5 percent of local health tax revenue to the hospital, asking...
- As Debt Deepens And Auditors Arrive, Adair County Hospital Ceo Resigns And Is Apparently Escorted From The Building
The CEO of Westlake Regional Hospital in Columbia "resigned Monday morning and was apparently escorted out of the hospital," reports the Adair County Community Voice. Rusty Tungate "and eight others turned in their resignations just one day before a consulting...