There’s been plenty of noise about rural hospitals in the wake of the passage of the tax and spending bill in Congress. Democrats say because of cuts to Medicaid, 33 of them in Louisiana will close. Republicans say that’s a false alarm. Jeff Reynolds, the executive director of the Louisiana Rural Hospital Coalition, says none are in danger of closing because the cuts don’t kick in right away.
“Next four or five years we’re probably fine. After that, we’re going to need some help, and we’re going to have to work with our legislators to see how we address that going forward,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds says nearly all rural hospitals in the state are in good financial health at this time.
“There’s two or three that we’re actively working with in order to stabilize their finances, but it’s not a huge number,” Reynolds noted.
Reynolds says rural hospitals closing in Louisiana are extremely rare, and the legislature would go out of its way to make sure that all of them stay open.
“The only rule of hospital we’ve had close since the 90s was South Cameron and that was hurricane related, not finance related,” Reynolds said.
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