Hospital leaders describe rural care pressures: payer mix, recruitment and local volumes

Jerry Heisman, chief financial officer of Ascension Regional Medical Center, and Sean Howard, chief medical officer and CEO, briefed the Sampson County Board of Commissioners on the hospital’s finances, staffing and clinical capacity.

Heisman described the hospital as a largely government-payer institution, saying Medicare accounted for about 47% of patient volume on the hospital’s financial statements, Medicaid about 20%, commercial insurance about 24% and self-pay about 7%. He said the county’s rural Medicare wage index reduces federal reimbursement compared with some neighboring hospitals that have reclassified into higher wage-index areas. “Our starting salary at Sampson Regional Medical Center is as high as or higher than many at the Raleigh hospitals,” Heisman said, explaining the local cost…