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Senate committee hears bill to bolster rural hospitals with grants, training and Medicaid payment changes
Summary
Senators and witnesses described House Bill 18 as a multi-part effort to stabilize rural Texas hospitals through a new HHSC office, grant programs, enhanced Medicaid payments and an officers academy; public testimony supported the bill and the committee left it pending.
The Senate Committee on Health and Human Services heard House Bill 18 on measures intended to stem rural hospital closures by creating new financial and technical support at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Sponsor Senator Perry explained the bill would create a state office of rural hospital finance at HHSC, several grant programs, a rural hospital officers academy and an updated Medicaid reimbursement method for rural hospitals.
Supporters told the committee that many rural hospitals operate on thin margins and that targeted financial help and training are necessary to keep 24-hour services, including labor and delivery, available. “We're the association for all 157 rural hospitals in Texas,” John Henderson, CEO of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals (Torch), said in testimony supporting HB 18. Henderson told senators the bill “deals with that in perpetuity, so we don't have to come back every session and fight for that.”
John Hewson, CEO of Frio Regional…
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