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Medicaid Cuts Could Put Tennessee’s Already Stressed Rural Hospitals in Jeopardy

Natalia Merzlyakova
/
123RF Stock Photo

Rural hospitals in west Tennessee could face closures if the American Health Care Act passes.

That’s according to the Tennessee Justice Center, a Nashville nonprofit healthcare advocacy group. Co-founder Gordon Bonnyman, Jr. said state audits show more than thirty rural hospitals - including Volunteer Community in Martin and Baptist Memorial in Union City - have been losing money for three years. He said proposed Medicaid cuts under the AHCA could mean the end for these hospitals.

 

“If you take away any significant amount of their current federal funding, which counts for almost two-thirds of their revenues, then you’re going to see them begin to fall and it will be like dominoes,” Bonnyman said.

 

Bonnyman said he hopes Congress will turn their attention to the ‘real needs’ of rural America and work on rebuilding infrastructure to support local hospitals. According to research from the University of North Carolina Sheps Center - nine rural hospitals have closed in Tennessee in the past four years, which is the second highest number in the country next to Texas. But even with the AHCA out of the picture, Bonnyman said rural hospitals in Tennessee will continue to struggle.

 

“If they pass the American Health Care Act, it will put many of these hospitals out of business very quickly,” Bonnyman said. “If they don’t pass the American Health Care Act, we still got a problem.”

 

Craig Becker is CEO of the Tennessee Hospital Association. Becker said Medicaid cuts could stress Tennessee's rural hospitals and force them to scale back on services offered.

 

TJC is holding a public forum Wednesday in Jackson and will present national reports on rural health and Medicaid funding.

 

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