Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/717576
49 CFO / FINANCE Ozarks Community Hospital CEO Says Medicare Termination is 'Warning for Small Hospitals' By Kelly Gooch P aul Taylor, CEO of the Springfield, Mo.-based Ozarks Community Hos- pital health system, is fighting back against CMS' recent decision to terminate the Medicare agreement for the organization's Springfield facility. Mr. Taylor on ursday outlined the events leading up to CMS' decision, which has forced OCH to close its Springfield in- patient unit, surgery and emergency depart- ments, affecting 200 employees. He also de- fended the hospital, saying it is a safety-net facility providing an efficient and needed ser- vice to southwest Missouri. "ere was a reason for us to be here, we were meeting a need," Mr. Taylor said during a call with media. "A need that could only be met by a small hospital." Mr. Taylor opened the Springfield hospital in 2000. Over the last 16 years, he indicated the hospital responded to industry pressure and has done what it could to maintain inpatient services within the parameters dictated by CMS. But he said industry pressures such as the lack of Medicaid expansion in Missouri and CMS' Re- covery Audit Program have affected the hospital's organizational restructuring in recent years. And now, CMS has determined the Spring- field hospital does not satisfy the federal defi- nition of a hospital. Mr. Taylor believes small hospitals are being examined closely for outpatient growth, as the healthcare industry advocates for reduced inpatient admissions and promotes primary care initiatives. "at's the warning to the other health sys- tems," he said. Mr. Taylor said a CEO from a small out-of- state hospital called him in tears worried that she's next. He said she's been similarly focused on increasing primary care, as it's what she thought she was supposed to be doing. "at's the irony of this. We've got healthcare responding to evolutionary pressures," Mr. Taylor said. OCH intends to appeal CMS' decision. In the meantime, United States Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has sent a letter to CMS, asking the agency to delay terminating Medi- care payments for OCH. Sen. McCaskill in her letter asks that CMS allow OCH to maintain its current Medicare provider agreement status until a final deter- mination is reached. "is will allow the community of Springfield to continue to receive the care it needs while CMS reviews OCH's case," she added. OCH plans to suspend its Springfield hospital license as of July 29. OCH's Springfield clinic campus remains open, as well as its hospital in Gravette, Ark., and additional clinics located throughout southwest Missouri and north- west Arkansas. e Springfield clinic campus will also continue offering outpatient services including radiology, lab, cardiopulmonary, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, occupa- tional therapy and speech therapy. n NY Hospital to Shutter ED By Brooke Murphy S t. Luke's Cornwall (N.Y.) Hospital's board of trustees voted July 21 to close the Littman Center for Emergency Medicine at its Cornwall campus. St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital is part of a two-hos- pital integrated care network based in New- burgh, N.Y. Board members decided to shutter the department as utilization of its emergency services has steadily declined during the past seven years, according to the hospital's website. The Cornwall ED treated an average of fewer than two patients per hour in 2015. Of those pa- tients, fewer than one in ten required hospital- ization, which occurs on the hospital network's main campus in Newburgh. Hospital network officials estimate the closure could improve its bottom line by $3.2 million. The emergency department is slated to close Oct. 1. n 7 Hospital Bankruptcies So Far in 2016 H ere are seven hospitals and health systems that filed for bank- ruptcy protection since Jan. 1, beginning with the most recent. 1. Coshocton (Ohio) County Memorial Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June. 2. Colusa (Calif.) Regional Medical Center, which closed in April, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in June. 3. Gardens Regional Hospital & Medical Center, a 137-bed hospital in Los Angeles, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June. The hospital, which opened in 1997, serves mostly low-income people and is part of Los An- geles County's safety net. 4. In early June, Mandeville, La.-based Progressive Acute Care filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for three of its Louisiana hospitals: Winn Parish Medical Center in Winnfield; Avoyelles Hospital in Marksville; and Oakdale (La.) Community Hospital. Progressive also filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy for Dauterive Hospital in New Iberia, La., which closed in December. 5. Twenty lawsuits over surgeries performed by an orthopedic surgeon pushed Powell (Wyo.) Valley Healthcare, a single-hospital system, to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May. 6. Magee, Miss.-based Pioneer Health Services, which owns hospitals in Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April. 7. In January, Forest Park Medical Center's hospitals in Fort Worth, Aus- tin and Southlake, Texas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. n