In May, the federal government stopped sending the hospital reimbursements for treating patients on Medicare and Medicaid. In an attempt to turn the hospital's prospects around, a new CEO, Michael Alexander, was named.
Meachael Goney worked at the Jamestown Regional Medical Center in rural Tennessee for 46 years, but that wasn't long enough to guarantee her job security.
Across Tennessee alone, a dozen rural hospitals have closed since 2010, and, according to an analysis by The Tennessean newspaper, more than a dozen others are at serious risk of going under. But it's not just a problem for Tennessee. In the last decade, more than 100 rural hospitals have closed across the country, according to the University of North Carolina's Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.
"Do you worry people wouldn't make it ?" Osunsami asked Marilyn Hull, a retired nurse who used to work at Jamestown Regional. She suffered a heart attack in 2012 and worries about having another one and the hour-long drive she'd have to make if she did. A spokesperson for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee told ABC News in a statement,"Governor Lee has advocated for the modernization of health care in Tennessee to improve affordability and access. Our rural hospitals have experienced a high rate of change in recent years and the Lee Administration is building transformative solutions through the Governor’s Healthcare Modernization Task Force and the Tennessee Rural Hospital Transformation program.
Last month, the federal government said it was considering new rules that could potentially give rural areas higher reimbursements for patients with government insurance, but if that money does come, it could be too late for the people of Fentress County, Tennessee."It’s just like accidents, or you know like tornadoes, something like that happens here," Baines said.
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