Wedowee Hospital’s future in doubt

WEDOWEE–Randolph County Healthcare Authority will meet Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Randolph County Commission Annex.

Wedowee Hospital administrator Mike Alexander would like to address some common questions and answers and share other information with the community before the meeting. He encourages the public to attend this important meeting to show support for Wedowee Hospital.

Alexander said the financial situation at Wedowee Hospital is not the result of poor management, but is the same that is affecting most hospitals across the United States. The impact is being felt most heavily on those hospitals that are located in rural areas with smaller populations that don’t have a significant amount of people with commercial insurance coverage.

“Increasing cuts in reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid and a growing number of people with no insurance have put severe financial stresses on these small facilities. This is one of the reasons why many rural areas have seen the need to provide some form of tax support to help their hospitals to survive,” he said. “It is nearly impossible for these facilities to continue to operate without this funding to offset the losses that they incur in providing healthcare to the people of their communities. Wedowee Hospital is no exception. Without support from the county, we may not be able to continue to operate and to care for the people of the area.”

He said, “This hospital belongs to this community, takes care of the people of this community and is first of all, the responsibility of this community.”

According to Alexander, Tanner Health System will not just step in and bail out Wedowee Hospital if it gets in too much trouble.

“Tanner has had an active interest in Randolph County and Wedowee Hospital for several years. Many people believe that due to our affiliation with Tanner several years ago (that resulted in Wedowee Hospital receiving a one-time lump sum of money that was used to purchase updated equipment and do some minor renovations), that we are now owned or operated by Tanner. This is not the case.

Alexander continued, “We do not receive money from Tanner for the operation of our hospital. Tanner, or anyone else, will not step in and take over the operation of this hospital if the community has not first done all that it can to support the hospital. This includes providing adequate tax support to the facility. Without the necessary tax support, it will likely not be financially possible to operate the hospital over the long term and certainly would not be possible to replace the outdated building. Tanner has already made a long-term investment in Randolph County through the Tanner East Alabama clinic. It would be only through a partnership of the hospital, the healthcare boards and the county that Tanner could consider moving forward in any type of a deeper relationship.”

There is an issue with the retirement funding for some of the former employees and retirees of Randolph Medical Center and Wedowee Hospital. Alexander said Wedowee Hospital is not trying to cheat these people out of their retirement.

The administrator said, “We do not want to see anyone lose anything that they are entitled to, and we not trying to take something away from them. Unfortunately, the issue of the dwindling retirement fund has occurred at the same time as our hospital’s financial issues. It will be a very difficult issue for the healthcare authority of Randolph County to sort out. We have confidence in their desire to find a solution that all parties can live with. We are simply stating the needs of the hospital without trying to make the retirees appear to be villains.”

Alexander explained that currently, for every tax dollar that is collected for the healthcare facilities in the county, Wedowee Hospital receives 32 cents, the clinic in Woodland receives 10 cents, the clinic in Wadley receives 10 cents and the former hospital in Roanoke receives 48 cents.

He said, “These distribution ratios have not changed since Randolph Medical Center closed three years ago. Much of the indigent care load that was being carried by Randolph Medical Center has now shifted and is coming to Wedowee Hospital. It is crucial for the healthcare authority to revisit the distribution ratios and direct more support to Wedowee Hospital now that we are the only hospital in Randolph County. However, there have been some ongoing legal issues that have prevented the healthcare authority from making changes to the ratios. This will be an important issue for them to address as soon as possible.”

According to Alexander, nearly 9,000 people per year come to the Wedowee Hospital Emergency Room. He explained, “If the hospital closes, many of you have family members or friends who would not be alive had it not been for the 24/7 availability of emergency care. How many people would die or suffer severe harm if they had to drive 40 minutes to an hour to get to a hospital if they were having a heart attack or a stroke? This number does not include the people who are admitted and cared for right here or those who have x-rays or lab tests done.”

Alexander continued, “From an economic standpoint, Wedowee Hospital is a large employer in this county. Last year, more than $3 million was paid out just in payroll to employees who then turned around and spent that money in local businesses. Most economists agree that a payroll dollar will usually turn over as much as five times before it leaves a community. That means that Wedowee Hospital had as much as a $15 million impact on the local economy. How many businesses would be hurt if this economic engine suddenly stopped running?

“In terms of future economic impact, any industry looking to locate in a community generally evaluates three criteria before even having any discussions with contacts in that community. Those things are access to transportation, quality of the school system and the availability of healthcare. It can fairly confidently be said that in this extremely competitive environment, that a community without a hospital will not see any industrial growth.”

The administrator went on to say that if Wedowee Hospital were to close, it is extremely unlikely someone else could come in and open up a new hospital. This is because to open and operate a hospital, a Certificate of Need must be issued by the state. If Wedowee Hospital closes for even one day, then anyone wishing to reopen it would have to go through the entire Certificate of Need application process. If that were approved and they wanted to reopen the current facility, the entire building would have to be brought up to current building codes, which is a financially unrealistic situation.

Alexander stressed the importance of keeping the hospital by explaining, “While we are currently grandfathered under the older set of codes, it would cost more money than it would be wise to spend on this building to meet the current codes. The same argument would apply to someone wanting to reopen the Randolph Medical Center building in Roanoke. For someone to open a new facility in Randolph County, it would require an investment in the neighborhood of $25 million-plus to build a new facility. This is a very unlikely scenario. It is safe to say that if Randolph County loses its last hospital, then it will probably not have one again.”