Health News
- Federal Budget Deal Targets Medicare Payments, And That Means Kentucky Hospitals Won't Be Happy
Looking for a way to localize the budget deal announced by congressional negotiators last night? Call up your local hospital. David Rogers of Politico reports that hospitals are "furious with the fact that the deal offers no relief from future cuts on...
- Death Rates For Heart And Pneumonia Patients At Critical-access Hospitals Are Rising Nationally, Study Finds
Death rates are rising at rural critical-access hospitals for Medicare patients who have heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Hospitals designated as critical-access...
- Lame-duck Congress Could Cut Funding For Critical Access Hospitals; More Than Two Dozen In Kentucky
Critical access hospitals, which in most states are rural facilities with fewer than 25 beds, may be under attack in the lame-duck session of Congress, former national rural-health director Wayne Myers writes for the Daily Yonder. President Obama's...
- Federal Cuts, Financial Instability And Competition Leave Many Rural Hospitals Fearing The Future
Many rural hospitals could be forced to close because of cuts to the Critical Access Program and the fact that, according to the National Rural Health Association, , 41 percent of critical-care hospitals are losing money, reports Jenny Gold of Kaiser...
- Small, Rural Hospitals With 'critical Access' Designation Have Poorer Patient Outcomes And Lower Quality Of Care, Study Finds
A study has found that small, rural hospitals with the "critical access" designation have poorer patient outcomes and lower quality of care. The analysis, performed by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, focused on nearly 1,300 critical...
Health News
Rural hospital coalition urges Congress to spare Medicare programs that shore up rural health care
A coalition of rural hospitals are lobbying Congress to keep two Medicare programs that the National Rural Health Association says are vital to keep hundreds of smaller hospitals going. The Medicare Dependent Hospital designation and the Low-Volume Hospital Adjuster, which date to the 1980s, help keep low-volume rural hospitals' doors open with the Medicare payment adjustments they provide, according to the NRHA.
Both programs could end Oct. 1 without Congressional action. "Rural facilities do not have the financial background to weather all of these cuts," said Lance Keilers, NRHA president and administrator of Ballinger Memorial Hospital in San Angelo, Tex., told Brendon Nafziger of DOTmed News, an online magazine serving the medical and medical equipment industry.
More than 200 hospitals have the Medicare Dependent designation. To qualify, a hospital must have fewer than 100 beds and Medicare patients must make up 60 percent of its inpatient days or discharges. Low-volume hospitals must be at least 15 miles from another hospital and provide care for fewer than 1,600 Medicare beneficiaries a year. (Read more)
Both programs could end Oct. 1 without Congressional action. "Rural facilities do not have the financial background to weather all of these cuts," said Lance Keilers, NRHA president and administrator of Ballinger Memorial Hospital in San Angelo, Tex., told Brendon Nafziger of DOTmed News, an online magazine serving the medical and medical equipment industry.
More than 200 hospitals have the Medicare Dependent designation. To qualify, a hospital must have fewer than 100 beds and Medicare patients must make up 60 percent of its inpatient days or discharges. Low-volume hospitals must be at least 15 miles from another hospital and provide care for fewer than 1,600 Medicare beneficiaries a year. (Read more)
- Federal Budget Deal Targets Medicare Payments, And That Means Kentucky Hospitals Won't Be Happy
Looking for a way to localize the budget deal announced by congressional negotiators last night? Call up your local hospital. David Rogers of Politico reports that hospitals are "furious with the fact that the deal offers no relief from future cuts on...
- Death Rates For Heart And Pneumonia Patients At Critical-access Hospitals Are Rising Nationally, Study Finds
Death rates are rising at rural critical-access hospitals for Medicare patients who have heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Hospitals designated as critical-access...
- Lame-duck Congress Could Cut Funding For Critical Access Hospitals; More Than Two Dozen In Kentucky
Critical access hospitals, which in most states are rural facilities with fewer than 25 beds, may be under attack in the lame-duck session of Congress, former national rural-health director Wayne Myers writes for the Daily Yonder. President Obama's...
- Federal Cuts, Financial Instability And Competition Leave Many Rural Hospitals Fearing The Future
Many rural hospitals could be forced to close because of cuts to the Critical Access Program and the fact that, according to the National Rural Health Association, , 41 percent of critical-care hospitals are losing money, reports Jenny Gold of Kaiser...
- Small, Rural Hospitals With 'critical Access' Designation Have Poorer Patient Outcomes And Lower Quality Of Care, Study Finds
A study has found that small, rural hospitals with the "critical access" designation have poorer patient outcomes and lower quality of care. The analysis, performed by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, focused on nearly 1,300 critical...