2/20/2007 10:11:00 AM Sen. Coleman presents plan “Quality of health care shouldn’t depend on your zip code."
Herald photo by bryan zollman
United States Senator Norm Coleman spent about one hour at St. Michael’s Hospital in Sauk Centre explaining his rural health care initiatives.
Herald photo by bryan zollman
United States Senator Norm Coleman spent about one hour at St. Michael’s Hospital in Sauk Centre explaining his rural health care initiatives.
By Bryan Zollman
United States Senator Norm Coleman appreciates rural health care, especially after suffering from food poisoning while visiting Pipestone Friday as part of a three-city statewide tour to discuss his plan for improved access to rural health care services.
Coleman arrived 90 minutes late at St. Michael's Hospital in Sauk Centre because he had to receive an IV for his condition. He talked about 20 minutes on his seven-point plan that included an increase in Medicare reimbursement to 101 percent, and a plan to move rural critical access hospitals to the front of the line for federal technology grants.
St. Michael's Hospital is a critical access hospital, meaning it is certified to receive cost-based reimbursement from Medicare. The reimbursement that CAHs receive is intended to improve their financial performance and thereby reduce hospital closures. Each hospital must review its own situation to determine if CAH status would be advantageous. CAHs are certified under a different set of Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoP) that are more flexible than the acute care hospital CoPs.
Of Coleman's seven points, St. Michael's Hospital Administrator Del Christianson said 101 percent reimbursement and possible technology grant money would most benefit St. Michael's.
"Twenty to twenty-five percent of our revenue comes from Medicare Advantage Plans," Christianson said. "In the long-term (Coleman's plan) is going to help the sustainability of this organization."
Coleman spoke about the importance of Critical Access Hospitals in the state of Minnesota. Currently there are 79, with a hospital in Ivanhoe recently closing.
"You lose a hospital in your community and you lose jobs, you lose access to health care, and I think you lose a little bit of your community," Coleman said to a crowd of approximately 40 people, including several hospital employees and other local health care officials.
With one in five Americans living in a rural setting, and just one in 10 physicians practicing in rural areas, Coleman said it is of utmost importance that rural hospitals survive.
"If you want to have strong rural communities," he said, "you need jobs, you need good schools, and you need health care. The reality is that health care is at risk."
Coleman's proposal, which he made to the Senate last Thursday, would ensure that critical access hospitals receive at least101 percent of cost for inpatient, swing-bed and outpatient services provided to Medicare patients covered under Medicare Advantage plan, whether or not the hospital has a contract with that plan. Coleman suggests this legislation would create certainty in payments and strengthen the CAH system as a whole.
Coleman's plan also includes technology needs and the importance of rural hospitals being able to compete with metro hospitals when it comes to federal grant money.
Christianson said St. Michael's will likely spend more than $1 million in the next three to five years to transform to electronic medical record keeping.
Under Coleman's proposal, rural hospitals such as St. Michael's could receive federal dollars to help lessen the burden on making the change.
"It's really expensive," Coleman said. "I don't think people understand the costs."
Coleman's plan also includes Medicare reimbursement for remote patient management for specific conditions; adding a critical access hospital in Walker, Minn.; providing adequate mental health care in rural communities; ensuring construction and maintenance of CAH in vital areas of the state with $1.6 billion allocated over five years; and a Rural Nursing Promotion Act to help rural hospitals with personnel shortages by giving students in rural areas access to nursing education.
Coleman said his plan has gained support from several key senators, and added that his proposal for rural health care issues is just a small portion of the bigger health care problems in America.
"I think every individual should have access to quality health care, have medical insurance, and certainly have catastrophic insurance," Coleman said.
"How we get there is going to be a great debate."
Coleman served as Mayor of St. Paul as a Democrat before becoming being elected as U.S. Senator as a Republican in 2003.
