Rural hospitals face cuts

The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) faces a $196.4 million cut in its fiscal year budget starting in a little more than a month. This singular cut makes up the majority of the projected $206.2 million reduction in state funding under the latest draft of House Bill 1, the state’s funding plan for next fiscal year.
The Senate Finance Committee Saturday from those who say they are direly affected by these cuts, including representatives of Louisiana’s rural hospitals. HB1 currently is before the Senate, which is giving signs it is sympathetic to restoring some of health care funding.
Charles Castille, executive director of the Rural Hospital Coalition, said the Legislature must restore the current $6 million cut to rural hospitals across the state for those facilities to survive. For the past several years, his coalition has received $12.7 million from the state.
Calling rural hospitals are “fragile,” everywhere, Castille said Louisiana’s rural hospitals have avoided closures in the past several years due to Medicaid expansion and because Legislature has funded them.
Castille said three of Louisiana’s rural hospitals are currently in bankruptcy, while two have cash reserves for less than a week. Only a quarter have enough reserves to withstand “unforeseen circumstances,” he said, adding that industries typically do not will not locate in rural parishes with no hospitals.
The Department of Health expects to receive $3.6 billion from FY18’s overall $29 billion plan, down some $200 million over the current fiscal year. The governor’s request was a continuation budget for next year, but the House reduced it to fund TOPS scholarship program.
“We have more needs than we have funds,” said Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Chalmette, her voice shaking as she looked at a room full of Louisianans in need. “I do think we will restore some of the cuts. I do not know that we will restore all of the cuts. There’s not enough money to do that.”