WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, April 9, the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare sponsored a half-day summit hosted by Punchbowl News exploring the unique challenges the 46 million Americans living in rural areas face in accessing the healthcare services they need.
The event featured a one-on-one interview with U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), a panel conversation with healthcare leaders and a fireside chat with Nancy Howell Agee, CEO of Carilion Clinic and Chair of the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare, on the importance of access to quality care.
The Punchbowl summit provided an important opportunity for in-depth discussions on topics including the barriers to healthcare access in rural communities, the financial headwinds rural hospitals face, the irreplaceable community benefit rural hospitals provide, the populations rural hospitals serve, the importance of healthcare innovation and the need for policymakers to support access to 24/7 care at our nation’s hospitals and health systems.
Highlights include:
“There are a lot of complicated and complex interlocking issues when it comes to the funding crisis for rural hospitals. One of them is making sure … that Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements are at least in some way keeping up with the cost of care. And let’s just be honest, that’s not happening right now.” – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN)
“If you live in a rural community and you need access to specialty care … the average time that you’d have to drive somewhere to get someplace is at least half an hour, and so that can be a real barrier.” – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN)
“As Medicare Advantage programs have grown, over 50% of [Medicare-eligible] people in Minnesota are on Medicare Advantage. I hear all the time from hospitals including rural hospitals about how those lower reimbursement rates are making it even harder for them.” – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN)
“No one plans for a health emergency. Nobody expects to have an injury or an illness and you don’t do it [between the hours of] 8-5.” – Nancy Howell Agee, Chair of the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare and CEO of the Carilion Clinic
“People in rural areas aren’t all that different from anybody else except that we see more poverty, we see people with more complex health needs, because they haven’t had access to healthcare.” – Nancy Howell Agee, Chair of the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare and CEO of the Carilion Clinic
“I’m worried about rural hospitals though. I’m worried about them because many are very fragile. More than 100 hospitals … in rural settings have closed in the last decade and a half. Many more are right on the edge.” – Nancy Howell Agee, Chair of the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare and CEO of the Carilion Clinic
“We’re expecting more and more from hospitals with less and less resources” – Nancy Howell Agee, Chair of the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare and CEO of the Carilion Clinic
“We’re serious. Hospitals in rural settings are in jeopardy. It doesn’t have to be that way. We can find new ways to deliver care that makes sense” – Nancy Howell Agee, Chair of the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare and CEO of the Carilion Clinic
“We’ve seen roughly 20% of children’s units close in the last five years in the U.S. … [there’s] no question that these children’s units are closing because there’s just not enough resources.” – Dustin Lipson, President of Primary Children’s Hospital
When asked to tell the audience in his closing remarks what improvements he’d like to see in the future, Mike Espy, former Secretary of Agriculture and Board Member of the One Country Project, said “America is a chain and that chain is only as strong as its weakest link” in reference to the need to strengthen access to care in rural communities.
“We really need investment in our rural hospitals as a foundation before we can do any of those things.” – Carolyn Leja, Chief Nursing Officer of Corewell Health Big Rapids & Reed City Hospitals, speaking about healthcare innovation
- To view the full video of Tuesday’s half-day summit, which attracted more than 100 in-person attendees and roughly 3,000 individuals who streamed the event online, click here.