Schumer: Patient services in jeopardy if funding programs for rural hospitals end

Rural hospitals will lose millions of dollars in critical federal funding and residents will be at risk for reduced medical services if two government programs are allowed to expire, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer is warning.

The Low-Volume Hospital Program and the Medicare-Dependent Hospital Program are set to end on Dec. 16. Both programs provide funding to hospitals that primarily serve Medicare patients.

Expiration of the programs would leave rural hospitals under-funded, under-staffed and forced to scale back services, Schumer said on Tuesday.

“Rural hospitals across the Finger Lakes and Upstate New York heroically stepped up to keep our communities safe on the frontlines of the pandemic and we can’t let these vital federal reimbursement programs continue to stay on life support, or worse flat line in December,” Schumer said at a news conference at Noyes Health in Geneseo. “Without this funding, rural hospitals like Noyes Health would lose millions, putting continued access to lifesaving medical care at risk in places like Livingston County.”

Schumer is pushing for bipartisan support in Congress to extend both programs. Noyes Memorial Hospital would lose just over $7.45 million in Low-Volume Hospital Funding over the next decade, Newark-Wayne Community Hospital in Newark would lose just over $8.1 million from the Medicare-Dependent Hospital Program, and Wyoming County Community Health System in Warsaw would lose just over $5.4 million in LVHF dollars.

Noyes Health said that without the funding, there would be no way to pay for the incremental staff costs, meaning either beds in the intensive care unit or medical/surgical beds would be eliminated.

“This would lead to reduced access, greater wait times for bed placement, and patients being transferred long distances to receive the care they need,” Dr. J. Chad Teeters, president and CEO at UR Medicine Noyes Health, said in a news release.

“The Medicare Low Volume Adjustment program is a critical lifeline for hospitals like ours, which are unavoidably dependent on Medicare revenue due to the high percentage of beneficiaries who live in rural areas.  The long term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have left us even more financially vulnerable, making the relief this program provides even more essential to maintain access to care for patients.”

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