Shelby Baptist Medical Center and its parent, Baptist Health System, deserve a pat on the back for doing something about this issue. SBMC and Baptist Health officials recently met with officials from the county and U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions to discuss the problem. SBMC is suffering from the Medicare cuts, especially when you consider that Medicare reimbursements for labor here are almost half what they are in major urban areas like New York. Rural hospitals usually serve bigger elderly populations. Reimbursing less than 92 cents for every dollar they spend on labor costs hurts the operating budget.
Somebody has to make up the shortfall, and that falls on the hospitals themselves.
Congress can take a positive step by addressing the inequity of the Medicare reimbursement plan. That will allow hospitals to better compete with nursing and other healthcare wages. Currently, Alabama pays less than other states, and our nursing graduates are leaving the state to go to better paying jobs elsewhere. Congress should re-visit the 1997 Balanced Budget Act and fix Medicare and its disparities in reimbursements. Until it does, hospitals across the state will continue to suffer, while offering the same care as hospitals who get more of the reimbursement.