Report: 17 Oklahoma Rural Hospitals Face Immediate Closure Risk
A national report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform finds 17 rural Oklahoma hospitals are at immediate risk of closure and 44 more are at risk, out of 260 hospitals nationwide facing immediate closure risk. Rich Rasmussen, president and CEO of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, said the report doesn't account for supplemental Medicaid and tax payments, such as the Supplemental Hospital Offset Payment Program, that help keep hospitals solvent, and that federal cuts to these programs under the recent congressional reconciliation law increase closure risk. Without supplemental Medicaid payments, Rasmussen said Oklahoma's critical access hospitals operate at a negative margin. He said hospitals are being forced to evaluate cutting services, citing one critical access hospital that may stop delivering babies, and noted a newly elected Congress could potentially rescind part of the cuts.