Inio County Hospital may be closed without emergency state funding

From ChristenCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Ino County, on the east side of Sierra Nevada, has two hospitals. In a few weeks it can be reduced to one, local and civil servants say.

The southern healthcare region in southern Inio, a hospital with 37 beds in lonely pine, had eight days of cash from September 12, chairman of the CEO Dr. Kevin Flansigan in front of Calmatters. Local employees have sent a letter asking governor Gavin News for an emergency $ 3 million to stabilize his finances by the end of the year, but there is no state intervention, the hospital may have to seriously shorten the services and staff – or close completely.

“If they do not pass and no one else comes then … The Board of Directors will have some very heavy decision -making decisions,” Fleignan said.

Average hospitals usually have more than 200 days in cash as per recent Kff analysisS Hospitals with less than 80 days of cash are considered “highly vulnerable” for a “financial crisis”.

Located in Lone Pine, a city on the base of the Peak of Whitney with only 1,300 inhabitants, the southern Inery health neighborhood is the only hospital within a radius of nearly 60 miles. This is the closest stop for wounded tourists and dehydrated tourists visiting Whitney or a nearby death valley, which regularly receives over 1 million visitors a year. Without it, there would be a 136-kilometer section between the next nearest hospitals in East Sierra Nevada.

The financial suffering of the hospital comes as rural hospitals across the country face increasing labor and deliveries, as well as forecast future reductions in revenue from federal abbreviations on Medicaid. Three weeks ago Glen Medical CenterThe only hospital in Glenn County in Northern California has said it will be closed until October.

According to the Assembly member David Tangipa, Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil and the Supervisory Authorities of the Inio County in the letter to Newsom that the hospital is facing short-term deficits and a single state infusion will be sufficient to stabilize the facility in the long run.

“If the doors are closed, thousands of adults and rural Californians will be left without access to critical healthcare, creating a true medical desert in another region of the state,” the letter said.

Sami Galegos, a spokesman for the California Agency for Health and Human Services, said in a statement that the administration is working with a southern Inery health area to accelerate payments due to the hospital where possible.

“Our main priority is to ensure that Californians in all areas of the state have access to quality, fair health care,” Galegos said.

She did not turn to whether the administration would be able to give the hospital the emergency infusion of cash she requested.

Hospitals are fighting to pay bills, employees

During a boarding meeting on Tuesday, Flanshu said the hospital has about $ 2 million unpaid bills. Since requiring the state for help, the hospital has received about $ 11,000 payment due for medical services.
“These are little things, but important,” he said. “Helps us make salaries.”

Will Wood Woodthon, the district head of the area that covers the hospital, said the county had no money to save the hospital.

“We are pursuing all the other opportunities to preserve the hospital,” Waudelton said, including attracting donations and the hope of state intervention.

It is unclear how legislators could get money for the hospital quickly. Local employees have requested emergency funding on the last regular day of the legislative session, which means that the state’s check book cannot be adjusted until MPs are restored in January.

Flanshig said he was still hoping that the hospital would find a solution.

Flansigan, who started working as CEO just four weeks ago, said the horrible hospital financial strand was disguised by residual money from the Covid-19 pandemic. At that time, the federal government was scored billions of dollars in healthcare to help maintain hospitals and other sailing facilities as the costs increased and other revenue sources were decreasing. State agencies received more than $ 109 billion In 2021, to support health services, while cities and cities received additional money to support the local response.

Flansigan said emergency funding from the state would give him time to reduce operational costs to a sustainable level and allow the facility to gain access to additional revenue expected in January, which will support the hospital in the long run.

“With this funding, I could adjust the hospital’s operations without being destructive and having the most likely success,” Fleignan said.

The money from the Rural Health Fund worth $ 50 billion, included in the Republican Law on a Big Beautiful Bill for the disposal of conservative rural lawmakers, will not be available soon enough to help the Southern Health Region, he said.

In Northern California, Glenn Medical’s financial difficulties began when US centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services took it from the status of “critical access” – a special designation given to qualified rural hospitals – which led to a loss of 40% of its revenue.

The Southern Inyo health neighborhood is also a hospital for critical access.

“It is crucial to us not to allow another rural hospital to close,” said Austin Gilbert, a spokesman for the Tangip’s cabinet.

Supported by the California Foundation for Health (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the necessary care when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.