Are critical access hospitals sustainable?

The residents of Odessa face a question that is being faced by small, rural communities across country: how can we sustain local health care delivery?

The fact is our local hospital, Odessa Memorial Health Care has an uncertain future. We are not unique in this uncertainty.

Since early 2013, 26 rural hospitals nation-wide have closed – more closures than in the nine prior years combined. According to iVantage Health Analytics, 66 percent of the nation’s 2,300 rural hospitals are operating at a financial loss.

There are lots of reasons Critical Access Hospitals are struggling. The Critical Access Hospital program was set up to provide access to health care services in rural areas. This designation provides for additional reimbursement beyond what a traditional hospital without the special designation would receive. However, that funding is not enough to cover the growing costs of care in our community.

Our hospital largely depends on funding from government insurers like Medicare and Medicaid. These programs have never paid the cost of care and in recent years they have cut the payments they make to hospitals. In years past, OMHC has downsized to save money in an effort to secure services for the future. Those actions were necessary and have contributed nicely to the longevity of Odessa’s health care facility. However, we cannot save ourselves into prosperity.

There are simply not enough people in our community to generate enough volume of service to bring the facility beyond a break-even point without the assistance of local funds. Our very small hospital faces similar regulatory demands as other, larger facilities and our patients certainly deserve and demand the high quality of care they’ve come to expect. All of this involves providing the skilled personnel and associated equipment, medications and supplies necessary to care for the community in times of need. What this means is to keep the doors open, we have to pay for a hospital (and equipment and personnel) which could provide care to many more people than we do. As a community we assume the costs of having care ready when it is needed, even if it is not being used.

As a result of all these factors, rural hospitals in small communities across Washington and the entire country have some tough decisions ahead.

The staff and the board of OMHC are committed to continuing to provide high quality health care services to the community. We’re working to find solutions to make this possible in Odessa now and into the future. In the coming weeks and months, we will be asking for your support and engagement in discussions about what the future of health care looks like in our community.