Rural hospitals are an endangered species in America, with extinction a real possibility.
In fact, the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center report that more than 120 hospitals have closed nationwide since 2005, with nearly 70 percent (or 83) of those closures occurring since 2010. Adding insult to injury is the recent announcement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that Monday, Dec. 2 is the deadline for critical access hospitals (CAHs) to submit a hardship exception to avoid the “Medicare downward payments.” To qualify, those hospitals must illustrate the use of certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT) in order to meet the reporting requirements of the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program and demonstrate “meaningful” use.
Delivering a State of the Union report on America’s rural hospitals during this edition of Monitor Mondays will be Maggie Elehwany, vice president of government affairs and policy for the National Rural Health Association.
Other segments to be featured on the broadcast include the following: