Hospital ends home health care as way to reduce spending

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Hospital ends home health care as way to reduce spending

Fri, 07/31/2020 - 01:22
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RICHMOND – The Ray County Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees voted to cut the hospital’s home health program after a 90-day phasing out period. “I don’t want to do it,” Vice Chairman Dale Vandiver said in making the motion July 16 to cut the program. Finances forced the closure, Vandiver and board Chairman Valerie Miller agreed. Based on data from 2018 and 2019 presented by hospital Administrator Earl Sheehy, cutting the program would save more than $200,000 per year. Ray County Memorial is not the only small hospital feeling a financial strain, Miller said after the vote. “I will tell you that rural hospitals have been under assault under a lot of fronts – and … a lot of rural hospitals are closing,” she said. Amendment 2 on the Aug. 4 ballot is touted by supporters as a way to assist rural hospitals through an increase in Medicaid funds. Ray County Memorial Hospital “is stable” financially, Miller said. But “the economy, and the regulations from Medicare and Medicaid, have…

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