NRHA announces Washington fly-in for rural hospitals
Funding for Rural Hospitals is under its greatest attack by Congress and the Administration. Cuts to Critical Access Hospitals are again proposed, and hundreds of millions of dollars to rural PPS hospitals will be lost if Congress does not act by October 1. If these threats become a reality, rural hospital services will be forced to cut, and rural hospital doors may close. Join the National Rural Health Association on July 31 in Washington, D.C. for a free education and advocacy event. This event will specifically detail how to protect your Critical Access Hospital from proposed cuts by the Administration and Congress. Additionally, it will focus on two rural PPS hospital payments that will expire on October 1 if Congress doesn’t act: the Medicare Dependent Hospital Payment and the Low-Volume Hospital Adjustment. MDHs are small rural facilities that serve a high percentage of Medicare patients. Expiration will mean over 200 MDHs will lose millions of dollars, causing many facilities to reduce services, or worse, close doors, resulting in a devastating impact on rural seniors across the nation. Over 600 rural hospitals receive the low-volume adjustment, meaning a loss for many hospitals of $1 million in Medicare reimbursement. The loss of such funding will also hurt rural patients, forcing rural hospitals to limit critical services or close facilities. Protect your rural hospital. Keep rural hospitals doors open. Register for this free event and visit our March for Rural Hospitals Fly-In action kit for more information. Your patients are counting on you.