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Fort Drum commander praises Lewis County General Hospital partnership; county leaders detail hospital and nursing-home financial metrics
Summary
Fort Drum Medical Department commander Colonel Christina Buckner and Lewis County hospital leadership discussed reliance on local hospital services, recent OB service changes, staff shortages, and county hospital financial metrics tied to Medicaid/Medicare payer mix and occupancy rates at the residential health care facility.
Colonel Christina Buckner, commander of the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity at Fort Drum, told the Lewis County Legislature that Fort Drum relies on close partnerships with local health-care providers, including Lewis County General Hospital, to serve soldiers and dependents.
“We here on Fort Drum with the most busiest division doesn't have a hospital on post,” Colonel Buckner said, explaining that the post’s model intentionally leverages community partners. She thanked Lewis County General Hospital and other local providers for supporting services, including obstetrics when military services were curtailed.
Jerry Kayer, chief executive officer (CEO) of Lewis County General Hospital, introduced the colonel and described a constructive April visit by Fort Drum medical leadership. Kayer highlighted that community partnerships have enabled Fort Drum patients to receive timely specialty care; Colonel Buckner recounted a recent placement where a referral resulted in a patient being seen in two weeks, allowing the patient to commission on schedule: “Lewis County will see him in 2 weeks. We got him.”
County leadership and hospital representatives also addressed recent press coverage about the potential effects of a proposed state budget change (referred to in the meeting as the “big beautiful bill”) on rural hospitals. The county’s presentation to the board of managers summarized payer-mix metrics for Lewis County General Hospital: roughly 30% of patients are Medicaid recipients, 30% are Medicare recipients (about 60% combined government payers), roughly 30% are commercial-insurance-driven, and about 10% represent charity care, bad debt, or self-pay. The presenter said Medicaid currently covers between roughly 65%–70% of cost of care and Medicare pays approximately 100% of cost of care; the county noted that many rural hospitals rely on supplementary or exception funding streams (for example, Medicaid supplemental payments, VAAP grants, and local grants) to remain solvent.
The hospital report to the legislature included operating metrics: the presenter said the hospital had three straight years of negative operating margin and described a year-to-date loss figure for the hospital system in the board package. For the county’s residential health care facility (RHCF), the presenter said the Medicaid share of residents exceeded 85% in the benchmarking matrix and that occupancy was around 75% of the facility’s 160 beds, below the 80% occupancy benchmark cited in the matrix.
The county noted workforce and mandated staffing levels for long-term care, and described local efforts to address staffing through training: the county celebrated 10 Lewis County residents who graduated from the BOCES LPN program with tuition supported by a local grant (“Caring Jean grama” as referenced in the presentation) and described ongoing LPN/CNA training efforts.
Nut graf: County and military health leaders presented this information to underline the operational ties between Fort Drum and Lewis County health providers and to explain how payer mix, occupancy, and supplemental funding streams shape the financial outlook for rural health care.
Board members and staff stressed the importance of sustaining partnerships and pursuing exception funding streams to continue local access to acute and long-term care services. County officials said they will continue budget planning and monitoring given possible impacts from state budget changes.
Ending: The legislature heard the briefing, acknowledged the vulnerability of rural health providers to state and federal reimbursement changes, and recorded support for continued partnership with Fort Drum and investments in local training pipelines to address staffing and service continuity.
