Save rural hospital

Calif. senator makes last-ditch effort to save rural hospital

By Anabel Sosa

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff is trying to salvage a hospital in rural Northern California after it was forced to close its doors last month, SFGATE has learned. Glenn Medical Center shut down on Sept. 30 after losing critical Medicare and Medicaid funding.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency in charge of disbursing those reimbursement funds, sent a notice to the hospital in April that it no longer had “critical access designation,” a special status for rural hospitals that offer emergency services. 

Under current eligibility requirements, a hospital designated for “critical access” must have a certain number of hospital beds and be at least 35 miles away from other health care facilities in order to be able to receive federal reimbursement. Glenn Medical Center was technically only 32 miles away from the nearest care. 

“Through no fault of its own, Glenn Medical Center lost its designation as a critical access hospital. The resulting closure of this hospital or others like it, is devastating and potentially deadly for California families,” Schiff said in a statement exclusively sent to SFGATE. “I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support this simple, bipartisan legislative fix to save Glenn County’s only hospital and ensure families don’t lose access to life-saving care.” 

Schiff’s proposed bill, which he co-authored with Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, proposes an amendment to the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program that would allow Glenn Medical Center to remain eligible for those reimbursement dollars. The proposed language would change the law to allow a hospital to keep its “critical access” care status and not be subject to the 35-mile distance requirement, if it was already designated critical before Jan. 1, 2024, and if it received a notice from the federal agency that it was out of compliance. 

Federal reimbursement dollars are often what financially sustain smaller health care facilities, like Glenn Medical Center. The hospital’s chief executive, Lauren Still, told CalMatters that without that status, the facility’s $28 million net annual revenue would be cut by about 40%.

Still visited Washington, D.C., along with her staff over the summer to make their case before the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the outlet reported in September. Still said the closure was a matter of being “realistic” about the state of their finances without federal reimbursements.

Under Schiff’s proposed bill, though, hope could be on the way. He and Hyde-Smith introduced the measure Thursday, and it will be reviewed in the Senate Finance Committee. 

Glenn Medical Center had been a designated hospital for the better part of 24 years until the feds cracked down.  

Now, the next-nearest hospital where residents can seek emergency services is 40 minutes away in Colusa County. Many community members in Willows — with just 28,000 residents — where the hospital is located, have expressed concern over those longer travel times.

Testimonies posted by an online campaign called “Save Glenn Medical Center” show community members saying the closure would be a major loss and noting the hospital has provided emergency care for their families “for decades.” One resident said they cannot afford the “time to drive to another city for ER visits” for their grandson who has Lupus.

Glenn Medical Center was one of 40 critical access hospitals in California. There are approximately 1,400 hospitals with that status countrywide. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican who represents Glenn County, previously told CalMatters that he was considering his own legislation to shrink the mileage eligibility requirements. SFGATE reached out to his team to ask if the congressman still planned to do so but did not hear back in time for publication.

SFGATE reached out to Still to ask what the timeline would look like for reopening if the hospital were to be redesignated as a “critical access” facility. The hospital did not respond in time for publication.