Latest news with #ruralHospitals
Gizmodo
04-07-2025
- Health
- Gizmodo
Trump's ‘Big Beautiful Bill' Is Already Hurting Health Care Facilities
The U.S. House made it official Thursday, passing the so-called Big Beautiful Bill in a vote of 218-214. The bill, hailed by President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, is projected to strip at least 17 million people of health insurance over the next decade and add $3-4 trillion to the national debt. And while there are plenty of predictions about what the massive cuts to Medicaid will do to hospital systems around the country long term, we won't have to wait too long to see the impact. Medical providers are already slashing jobs and closing clinics. The bill will create about $930 billion in cuts to Medicaid, something that President Trump and his Republican cronies insist won't happen. But health care providers are telling a different story, with one clinic in rural Nebraska blaming its closure on the plans for Medicaid. Community Hospital in Curtis, Nebraska, is closing its doors according to a new report from local TV station KLKN. 'Unfortunately, the current financial environment, driven by anticipated federal budget cuts to Medicaid, has made it impossible for us to continue operating all of our services, many of which have faced significant financial challenges for years,' Community Hospital CEO Troy Bruntz said in a statement to the news outlet. A study by the University of North Carolina, commissioned by Senate Democrats, found that 338 rural hospitals will be at risk of closing thanks to the GOP bill. But it's not just rural hospitals already feeling the pinch. Two of San Diego, California's largest medical providers announced layoffs in the last week. UC San Diego Health is laying off 230 workers and cited 'mounting financial pressures' as a result of 'federal impacts to health care,' including poor reimbursement rates for Medicare and Medicaid, in a memo seen by the San Diego Union Tribune. Sharp Healthcare, San Diego County's biggest provider, also announced it was laying off 315 employees who will work through early September. Executives at Sharp are also taking pay cuts, with CEO Chris Howard asking the board to cut his pay by 25%, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. Bea Grause, president of the Healthcare Association of New York State told the Times Union that hospitals are going to feel this. 'It's a fiscal pandemic,' Grause said. 'Medicaid is an important funder for all hospitals, and so it will financially hurt almost every hospital across the state of New York—and hospitals are central to the economy of each community. That's what the average New Yorker should be concerned about.' Many Americans probably don't even know they're on Medicaid, given the fact that each state administers its own program and has a different name for it. In California it's called Medi-Cal, in Massachusetts it's called MassHealth, and in New Jersey it's called NJ FamilyCare. But people also don't seem to understand that Medicaid helps hospitals pay for things that help everyone more broadly and pulling the rug out from under them will have ripple effects. The Congressional Budget Office estimates 11.8 million people will lose Medicaid coverage between now and 2034, according to the Washington Post, but the bill also abolishes other subsidies for the Affordable Care Act that the CBO estimates will dump another 4.2 million people. Another 1 million on top of that will lose their coverage because of other health provisions in the bill, bringing the grand total to somewhere around 17 million people over the next decade. When people lose their health insurance it doesn't mean that they're not going to need help. As Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat from Nevada, pointed out during a virtual roundtable this week, these cuts will 'devastate health care in Nevada,' and people will go to the ER after they get sick enough. 'More people now are going to be showing up in our emergency rooms with acute care because they now have lost the health care that they need to even provide preventative care for them,' Cortez Masto said, according to the Nevada Current. The Republicans insist that Democrats are just fear-mongering and that nobody is going to lose their Medicaid coverage. Some Republicans will admit that people are going to get stripped of their health insurance, but they insist it's all about fighting 'waste, fraud, and abuse.' We'll see how many people who lose their health care in the coming years feel when they're simply dubbed fraudsters.
Associated Press
29-06-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Urban Hospitals Warn of Medicaid Crisis as Senate Advances Rural-Only Relief - Black Book Flash Poll
Senate's rural hospital protections leave urban safety-net providers facing financial fallout and potential care cutbacks, new poll results reveal. WASHINGTON, D.C., 3683 / ACCESS Newswire / June 29, 2025 / As the Senate advances the amended 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' granting critical Medicaid relief exclusively to rural hospitals, urban safety-net hospitals are left facing significant financial peril, according to a flash poll by independent research firm Black Book Research. The survey, conducted June 25-28, 2025, gathered urgent perspectives from twelve senior executives at major urban hospitals averaging 440 beds and a Medicaid payer mix of 67%. Respondents included leaders in finance, clinical operations, and health IT. Key findings signal unanimous concern among urban safety-net executives: All respondents anticipate serious financial harm from pending Medicaid funding cuts. Additonally, every executive reported that their state has no viable contingency plan to address the shortfall from reduced federal Medicaid matching funds. Seven of twelve foresee major operational consequences: significant reductions in healthcare services, layoffs, or deferral of essential investments in cybersecurity and technology infrastructure. The average projected uncompensated care expenses exceed $10 million per facility annually. Two executives warn of even more severe outcomes: the potential for closure or bankruptcy of their health systems within three years without legislative intervention. Independent assessments echo these concerns, finding that the current bill could impose severe financial burdens on urban hospitals due to Medicaid provider tax reductions. Leaders caution that the lack of urban protections may undermine care for millions of vulnerable urban residents and destabilize existing safety nets. 'While rural hospitals rightly received critical protections, urban safety-net hospitals have clearly been overlooked. Without comparable safeguards, vital healthcare services for millions of Medicaid-dependent urban residents are at risk, " commented Doug Brown, Founder of Black Book Research. 'Our flash poll highlights the urgent need for equity in the final bill negotiations. Congressional leaders must recognize the indispensable role urban safety-net hospitals play in delivering care to the nation's most underserved populations.' Urban hospital administrators urge lawmakers to ensure balanced, equitable emergency protections in ongoing legislative negotiations, calling for relief that supports the essential needs of both rural and urban hospitals. How to Advocate: Hospital administrators and stakeholders are encouraged to contact their senators and representatives directly via About Black Book Research Black Book Research is an independent research firm specializing in healthcare market trends, vendor rankings, and provider insights. Employing impartial, data-driven methodologies and comprehensive surveys, Black Book tracks healthcare technology adoption and policy impacts while amplifying provider perspectives and identifying industry gaps. Black Book's rapid flash polling utilizes expert panels from both in-house and outsourced partners, ensuring timely, actionable intelligence on market and policy shifts. Access complimentary industry reports at or contact [email protected]. Contact InformationPress Office 8008637590 SOURCE: Black Book Research press release
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Urban Hospitals Warn of Medicaid Crisis as Senate Advances Rural-Only Relief - Black Book Flash Poll
Senate's rural hospital protections leave urban safety-net providers facing financial fallout and potential care cutbacks, new poll results reveal. WASHINGTON, D.C., 3683 / / June 29, 2025 / As the Senate advances the amended "One Big Beautiful Bill," granting critical Medicaid relief exclusively to rural hospitals, urban safety-net hospitals are left facing significant financial peril, according to a flash poll by independent research firm Black Book Research. The survey, conducted June 25-28, 2025, gathered urgent perspectives from twelve senior executives at major urban hospitals averaging 440 beds and a Medicaid payer mix of 67%. Respondents included leaders in finance, clinical operations, and health IT. Key findings signal unanimous concern among urban safety-net executives: All respondents anticipate serious financial harm from pending Medicaid funding cuts. Additonally, every executive reported that their state has no viable contingency plan to address the shortfall from reduced federal Medicaid matching funds. Seven of twelve foresee major operational consequences: significant reductions in healthcare services, layoffs, or deferral of essential investments in cybersecurity and technology infrastructure. The average projected uncompensated care expenses exceed $10 million per facility annually. Two executives warn of even more severe outcomes: the potential for closure or bankruptcy of their health systems within three years without legislative intervention. Independent assessments echo these concerns, finding that the current bill could impose severe financial burdens on urban hospitals due to Medicaid provider tax reductions. Leaders caution that the lack of urban protections may undermine care for millions of vulnerable urban residents and destabilize existing safety nets. "While rural hospitals rightly received critical protections, urban safety-net hospitals have clearly been overlooked. Without comparable safeguards, vital healthcare services for millions of Medicaid-dependent urban residents are at risk, " commented Doug Brown, Founder of Black Book Research. "Our flash poll highlights the urgent need for equity in the final bill negotiations. Congressional leaders must recognize the indispensable role urban safety-net hospitals play in delivering care to the nation's most underserved populations." Urban hospital administrators urge lawmakers to ensure balanced, equitable emergency protections in ongoing legislative negotiations, calling for relief that supports the essential needs of both rural and urban hospitals. How to Advocate: Hospital administrators and stakeholders are encouraged to contact their senators and representatives directly via About Black Book Research Black Book Research is an independent research firm specializing in healthcare market trends, vendor rankings, and provider insights. Employing impartial, data-driven methodologies and comprehensive surveys, Black Book tracks healthcare technology adoption and policy impacts while amplifying provider perspectives and identifying industry gaps. Black Book's rapid flash polling utilizes expert panels from both in-house and outsourced partners, ensuring timely, actionable intelligence on market and policy shifts. Access complimentary industry reports at or contact research@ Contact Information Press Office research@ SOURCE: Black Book Research View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fox News
23-06-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Top Trump health official slams Democrats for 'misleading' claims about Medicaid reform
FIRST ON FOX: A top Trump White House official is looking to undercut Senate Democrats' talking points on Medicaid, arguing that the GOP's plan to reform the healthcare program would benefit rural hospitals, not harm them. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz told Fox News Digital that "special interests are pushing misleading talking points to try and stop the most ambitious healthcare reforms ever." Oz's sentiment comes as Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Republicans sprint to finish their work on President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" ahead of a self-imposed July 4 deadline. Part of the bill from the Senate Finance Committee aims to make good on the GOP's promise to root out waste, fraud and abuse within the widely used healthcare program by including work requirements and booting illegal immigrants from benefit rolls, among other measures. Tweaks to the Medicaid provider tax rate have ruffled feathers on both sides of the aisle. Indeed, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., sent a letter to Trump and the top congressional Republicans last week warning that changes to the Medicaid provider tax rate would harm over 300 rural hospitals. And a cohort of Senate Republicans were furious with the change after the bill dropped last week. But Oz contended that "only 5%" of inpatient Medicaid spending happens in rural communities, and that the mammoth bill "instead targets abuses overwhelmingly utilized by large hospitals with well-connected lobbyists." "We are committed to preserving and improving access to care in rural communities with a transformative approach that bolsters advanced technology, invests in infrastructure, and supports workforce — rather than propping up a system that mostly benefits wealthier urban areas," Oz said. Schumer's letter included data from a study recently conducted by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at his behest. He warned that if the bill is passed as is, millions of people would be kicked off of their healthcare coverage, and "rural hospitals will not get paid for the services they are required by law to provide to patients." Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer, Wyden and Merkley for comment. However, another report from the Trump-aligned Paragon Health Institute argued similarly to Oz that special interest groups and healthcare lobbyists were "flooding the airwaves with claims" that Republicans' changes to Medicaid would shutter rural hospitals. For example, they argued that a recent report from the Center for American Progress warned that over 200 rural hospitals would be at risk of closure, but that the findings were based on changes to the federal medical assistance percentage, or the amount of Medicaid costs paid for by the federal government. Changes to that percentage were mulled by congressional Republicans but were not included in the "big, beautiful bill." Still, the changes to the Medicaid provider tax rate, which were a stark departure from the House GOP's version of the bill, angered the Republicans who have warned not to make revisions to the healthcare program that could shut down rural hospitals and boot working Americans from their benefits. The Senate Finance Committee went further than the House's freeze of the provider tax rate, or the amount that state Medicaid programs pay to healthcare providers on behalf of Medicaid beneficiaries, for non-Affordable Care Act expansion states, and included a provision that lowers the rate in expansion states annually until it hits 3.5%. However, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is working on a possible change to the bill that would create a provider relief fund that could sate her and other Republicans' concerns about the change to the provider tax rate.
Bloomberg
18-06-2025
- Health
- Bloomberg
Senate Republicans Float Rural Hospital Fund to Ease Impasse Over Tax Bill
Senate Republicans are crafting provisions to provide funding for struggling rural hospitals in order to resolve an impasse on Medicaid changes that is one issue holding up passage of President Donald Trump's tax-cut bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Wednesday he is working with members of his party on a solution that would ensure financially vulnerable rural hospitals aren't threatened by the legislation's cuts to the Medicaid health program for low-income and disabled Americans.
