Des Moines, Iowa — The legislature is sending Governor Kim Reynolds a bill setting up a state process so small Iowa hospitals may be licensed as Rural Emergency Hospital.
Under federal rules, Rural Emergency Hospitals may discontinue in-patient care, while keeping out-patient services and an emergency room open. Rural Emergency Hospitals get five percent extra in federal reimbursement for treating Medicare patients. Senator Jeff Reichman is a Republican from Montrose, which is a 15 minute drive from the Keokuk hospital that closed last fall.
Bill backers say it’s likely a Rural Emergency Hospital will reopen in Keokuk. Representative Amy Nielsen, a Democrat from North Liberty, says that’s critical.
Republican Representative Martin Graber of Fort Madison says a constituent in Keokuk recently had to decide whether a relative who’d suffered a stroke should be taken to a hospital in Fort Madison or Carthage, Illinois because Keokuk’s hospital is closed.
Republican Representative Tom Moore of Griswold says only hospitals in rural areas that can keep an ER open 24 hours a day, seven days a week will be able to get this new designation.
The Rural Emergency Hospital designation will also be available to rural surgical centers that provide outpatient services if the bill becomes law. Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, voted for the bill but warned without higher reimbursement rates for the care provided to Medicaid patients, more Iowa hospitals will have to downgrade to Rural Emergency Hospital status.
Representative Dave Jacoby, a Democrat from Coralville, was the only legislator to vote against the bill. Jacoby says the bill did nothing to help urban hospitals, which are also struggling with low reimbursement rates while providing care to rural as well as urban residents.
