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| President Trump signs his bill of tax breaks and spending cuts. (Photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson, AP via the Yonder) |
Rural hospitals struggling to stay open will be unable to manage financial shortages caused by ongoing Medicaid cuts with funds from the Rural Health Transformation Program, which sets aside $50 billion in federal dollars for rural hospitals. Liz Carey for The Daily Yonder reports, "The legislation itself specifically says RHTP funds cannot be used as an offset for Medicaid. And the administration in multiple avenues has specifically said this cannot be used to keep rural hospitals open, period.”
During summer budget negotiations, lawmakers created the RHTP program and touted it as a way to protect rural hospitals; however, the totals don't balance each other out. "Federal Medicaid spending in rural areas is expected to drop by about $15.5 billion per year over the next 10 years," Carey explains. The Rural Health Transformation Program "will provide about $10 billion per year over five years. Many industry experts say that’s not enough."
Although lawmakers may have said the fund was to keep rural hospitals open, the program isn't designed to save struggling medical centers in the short term. Instead, states that apply to the program must include a "rural transformation plan" that outlines how they will improve services, cut costs and deploy technology with RHTP funding aimed at long-term solvency.
Any state that receives RHTP funding will also be "assessed for additional funding based on its population, the number of rural health facilities it has, and the situation of the hospitals in the state to receive additional funds," Carey explains. "Additional funds would also be allocated based on 'how well state applications align with program strategic goals,'" which includes the HHS Make America Healthy Again initiative.
At its core, RHTP funds won't help financially strapped hospitals stay open, and rural residents will likely face more struggles to access providers and care. Alan Morgan, president of the National Rural Health Association, told the Yonder, "The $50 billion cannot by legislation (and is not by the administration) going to be used to help rural hospitals keep their doors open. This $50 billion is about sustaining healthcare for the future. It has nothing to do with maintaining access today.”
from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/QibU2r8 Rural hospitals struggling to stay open can't use the newly created $50 billion federal fund to survive - Entrepreneur Generations
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