Safety-net hospitals in rural communities such as Alamogordo are\u00a0especially vulnerable because they treat large numbers of Medicaid and uninsured patients.<\/p>\n
Per Beekers Hospital\u00a0Review,<\/a> leaders from some of the nation\u2019s largest Catholic health systems \u2014 CommonSpirit Health, SSM Health, Avera Health, Christus Health (the dominate local health care provider) and Covenant Health were united in opposition proposed Medicaid cuts, warning that the legislation would deepen financial instability for hospitals, restrict access to essential services and endanger care for millions of Americans.<\/p>\n Collectively, these systems operate hundreds of hospitals and clinics across rural, suburban and urban areas \u2014 delivering care to tens of millions of patients annually, including millions enrolled in Medicaid.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sister Mary Haddad, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, called the proposals were\u00a0\u201cunconscionable\u201d in scope, pointing to proposed limits on provider taxes, state payments, and retroactive coverage, along with expanded work requirements and reduced support for immigrant populations.<\/p>\n \u201cBased on our preliminary review, even more restrictions on provider taxes, state payments, work requirements and care for immigrants will occur,\u201d Ms. Haddad said. \u201c<\/p>\n The CHA estimates the legislation could cause more than 10 million people to lose coverage and criticized the bill\u2019s failure to extend ACA premium tax credits<\/a> set to expire in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThese harmful proposals threaten the health and stability of the very communities we\u2019re called to serve,\u201d Ms. Haddad said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Christus Health: \u2018These are real people and real consequences\u2019<\/p>\n Gabriela Saenz, Senior Vice President at Christus Health, which serves communities across Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico, said <\/a>more than 60% of the system\u2019s patients rely on government programs such as Medicaid.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are sounding the alarm because this really would be devastating to the people that we serve,\u201d Ms. Saenz said.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Ms. Saenz warned<\/a> that the cuts in state-directed payments would devastate the infrastructure that enables Christus to serve vulnerable communities. Innovative, non-reimbursed programs \u2014 such as rural nurse practitioner outreach efforts \u2014 would also be endangered.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are real people and real consequences,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Christus Health, now operating Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center, serves a population where nearly half of residents are covered by Medicaid. That\u2019s a significant payer mix, especially for a rural hospital. Cuts to Medicaid would likely:<\/p>\n Reduce reimbursement rates, making it harder to cover operating costs Christus has a charity care policy for patients under 300% of the federal poverty level, but that\u2019s a stopgap\u2014not a substitute for stable Medicaid funding.<\/p>\n Medicaid reimbursement shortfalls\u2014once block grants and eligibility work-requirement policies take effect it will\u00a0the local system due to high Medicaid use. While exact figures for Otero County aren\u2019t yet published for this year.\u00a0Christus Health, now operating Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center, serves a population where nearly half of residents are covered by Medicaid.<\/p>\n U.S. Senators Merkley and colleagues reviewed data from the UNC Sheps Center and warned that 15 New Mexico hospitals\u2014each ranking in the top 10% nationally for share of Medicaid patients\u2014could be forced to close without those supplemental Medicaid payments.<\/p>\n Otero County\u2019s healthcare system is already under pressure:<\/p>\n Medicaid covers ~50% of the population, with another 26% on Medicare With the passed\u00a0federal budget cuts in health care, Otero County could see:<\/p>\n Loss of coverage for thousands of residents According to the Joint Economic Committee:<\/p>\n 79,000 New Mexicans could lose Medicaid coverage This would disproportionately affect rural counties like Otero, where Medicaid is a lifeline for low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n A roundtable hosted by Sen. Heinrich <\/a>and hospital advocates highlighted that six to eight facilities\u2014primarily in southern and rural counties\u2014could shutter within 18 months, triggering a domino effect from Las Cruces up to Santa Fe. Loss of any single provider in this network would reverberate statewide.<\/p>\n Although the public summary does not name the hospitals specifically, the state\u2019s lowest-revenue hospitals with the heaviest Medicaid reliance have\u00a0facilities in Cibola, Grant, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Otero and Roosevelt counties.<\/p>\n With 836,000 New Mexicans enrolled,\u00a0nearly 40% of the states population,\u00a0New Mexico\u00a0leads the nation in per capita Medicaid coverage.<\/p>\n A Legislative Finance Committee analysis presented to lawmakers\u00a0 estimated the cuts will decrease Medicaid spending in New Mexico by more than $1 billion through 2034.<\/p>\n “It’s a gut punch at its worst for people all across New Mexico,” stated New Mexico Senator Ben Ray\u00a0Luj\u00e1n.<\/p>\n Sources:\u00a0<\/p>\n 1
\nThreaten service lines like maternity, behavioral health, and chronic care
\nIncrease uncompensated care, especially if patients lose coverage due to new work requirements or shortened enrollment cycles<\/p>\n
\nRural hospitals like Gerald Champion are often top employers, so financial instability affects both health access and local economies
\nLeadership turnover at the hospital (CEO departure in June) adds uncertainty<\/p>\n
\nCuts to emergency, primary, and hospice care
\nRisk of service closures, especially in departments with high Medicaid utilization<\/p>\n
\nAnother 25,000 could lose ACA marketplace insurance
\nTotal estimated loss: over 100,000 residents without coverage<\/p>\nwww.cpr.org<\/a>
\n2www.christushealth.org<\/a>
\n3www.jec.senate.gov<\/a>
\n1www.myrgh.org<\/a>
\n2www.hca.nm.gov<\/a>
\n3sourcenm.com<\/a>
\nMore News from Alamogordo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Public health and the care for the elderly, those economically challenge, the poor and at risk populations all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-81520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}