As Goes The Nation – So Goes West Virginia
Rural hospitals are in a terrible crisis as 120 facilities across the nation have closed over the past 10 years, and here in West Virginia, we’ve already lost hospitals in Wheeling, Fairmont and Williamson. These facilities closed principally due to poor financial performance. And in Charleston, one of the state’s biggest health care providers has sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its long-term debt.
Low Reimbursement Rates to Blame
West Virginia Health care providers are dealing with rising costs and shrinking budgets in a rural state with a higher percentage of government payers, whose reimbursements do not cover the full cost of treatment. In West Virginia, 1.1 million people are covered by public insurance policies such as Medicaid, Medicare and the Public Employees Insurance Agency, known as PEIA. All of those plans reimburse health care providers only 32 cents for every dollar of care they provide. Hospitals can’t survive on partial payments.
