Yes! Allen County Healthcare

opinions

October 1, 2010 - 12:00 AM

Voters will decide Nov. 2 whether to increase a countywide sales tax by 1⁄4 of a cent to go toward a new Allen County Hospital.
Members of the Allen County Healthcare Committee address questions about the issue.
Q: Why does the plan for a new hospital specify 25 beds?
A: The maximum number of beds for a Medicare-designated Critical Access Hospital is 25 beds. So the number 25 is the top number for small rural hospitals wanting to qualify under Medicare for Critical Access reimbursement, which provides payment for services at 101 percent of cost.
There are some days each year when Allen County Hospital has 25 patients in the hospital, according to census information for the last several years, although it is not frequent.
At one time, Allen County Hospital was a 50-bed hospital, but that was during the period when hospital stays were assumed to be “long-term.” A person would be in the hospital for surgery or as a new mother and would be expected to stay several days before being released. As a result, there was a higher number of beds needed to accommodate them. With more recent advances in medicine and improvements in surgery techniques, hospital stays have become much shorter, reducing the need for beds due to the reduction in patient days in the hospital.
In the event of a bad flu season, a local epidemic or a natural disaster, having the ability to expand to the full 25-bed limit would be important and is the reason it is not wise to make the number any smaller than 25.
If you agree with us and would like to help our voter information effort with your time or your money we can use both. We expect it to take several hundred volunteers to get the word out with only a few short weeks before the election. Volunteer names or contributions may be sent to “Yes Allen County Healthcare,” at A.C.B., Inc, 16 W. Jackson, Iola, KS 66749 or left at the Moran, Humboldt or Iola branches of Emprise Bank where we have our checking account.

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