St. Francis pursuing critical access hospital status

There have been some changes at OSF St. Francis Hospital & Medical Group in Escanaba, as the health system prepares for a status change under Medicare rules.

The hospital is applying to be considered a critical access hospital, which would make it eligible for more Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, which president and CEO Peter Jennings says currently are not even meeting OSF's costs of providing Medicare and Medicaid health care.

"The future under healthcare reform is uncertain, but one thing we know is there will be less reimbursement than what we are currently experiencing," says Jennings. "We have been providing care for Delta County and surrounding communities for 127 years with a mission to serve persons with the greatest care and love. As we look to the future we will continue to provide the highest quality care as efficiently as possible, but we must receive payment for the care we provide."

So, the OSF Healthcare System and hospital leaders have been studying the requirements for a critical access hospital in the last few years, and realized that more, and more, OSF fits that picture.

"We are part of a new generation of critical access hospitals," says Jennings. "In the past, hospitals chose CAH status as a means of staying open. Today, hospitals choose this status for the opportunities it provides."

The change in status won't affect services at OSF negatively; in fact, it will help the health system expand its outpatient services, and make most hospital rooms there private instead of semi-private.

To qualify for the status, hospitals must be rural, more than 35 miles from another hospital, and have no more than 25 inpatient beds and an average length of hospital stay of four days. OSF fits all these criteria, and hopes to achieve critical access status by this spring.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Peter Jennings, OSF St. Francis Hospital & Medical Group