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Hospital leaders praise rural emergency hospital option, warn Medicaid and Medicare rates have not kept pace
Summary
Arkansas Hospital Association leaders told the Senate committee that rising labor and supply costs, stagnant Medicare and Medicaid rates and staffing caps are forcing hospitals to cut staffed beds and review service lines; they described the federal rural emergency hospital designation as a possible lifeline that requires communities to give up inpatient beds in exchange for stipends and enhanced outpatient rates.
Beau Ryle, president and CEO of the Arkansas Hospital Association, and Jody Entred, executive vice president, told the committee that hospitals face sharp cost pressures and workforce shortages that are forcing operational changes.
"We represent the Arkansas Hospital Association, over a hundred member hospitals across the great state of Arkansas," Ryle said. He told lawmakers labor costs rose more than 30% in the last year and supplies and pharmaceuticals increased by 20–30%, while Medicare and Medicaid payment rates have not kept pace.
Entred described the federal…
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