In a story published online today (May 14) by Newsweek, ACHI Interim President and CEO Craig Wilson discusses the impact that deep cuts to Medicaid could have on rural hospitals in Arkansas and around the country.
The story notes that congressional Republicans are considering steep cuts to Medicaid at a time when 300 rural hospitals — including 10 in Arkansas — are at immediate risk of shutting down, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. Wilson tells Newsweek it would be difficult for Arkansas, where many rural communities and residents are heavily dependent on Medicaid, to absorb the impact of the proposed cuts.
For more on the financial pressures facing Arkansas’s rural hospitals, see our Rural Health Insights topic page.