Rennova Health Inc (RNVA)

[MJAM2020]

Uh Ohhh..Looks like the media is picking up on the fact that BSFM is just a little bit different.

BUCKING THE TREND THEY SAY?!?

One East Tennessee medical center finds ways to stay open amid surge of hospital closures
Big South Fork Medical bucks trend of rural hospital closures.
A group of police officers in Iowa stepped in for their fallen comrade by attending his daughter’s graduation. (KCCI, CNN, The Gowrie News/Family Photos)
By William Puckett
Published: May. 21, 2024 at 7:35 PM EDT|Updated: 16 hours ago
ONEIDA, Tenn. (WVLT) - In an age where rural hospitals in Tennessee are closing at breakneck pace, one in Scott County is bucking the trend.

Big South Fork Medical in Oneida had closed several times over the years, but it found a groove.

”That’s pretty much true of any hospital, big or little, the challenges are just a little different,” said Hal Leftwich, the CEO of Big South Fork Medical.

Leftwich is talking about the struggles his hospital faces, but he said the separation between little and big hospital isn’t that far apart these days.


”Finding qualified and licensed people and being able to afford them,” said Leftwich.

The CEO’s career spans more than four decades, the majority of it in rural hospitals.

”We’ve seen here some of the things that are good and some of the things that are challenges,” said Leftwich.

Leftwich is finding ways to get creative in Oneida, working on payouts from insurance and reclassifying bed space.


”We have a lot of good points to make with the insurance companies. We’ve been fortunate to be considered a critical access hospital, which puts us in a different Medicare category and pays us a little differently,” said Leftwich. ”We’ve started a program we call “swing beds” which are kind of like skilled nursing type beds but we use hospital beds.”

Leftwich exemplified the swing beds as a way to better care for patients, keep money flowing and take the strain of hospital partners in larger metro areas.

”The idea from the larger hospital is we can help them because they’re trying to control their length of stay because they need the bed to turn over for another patient. They’re busy, so they can send that patient back, which helps out the patient and the family,” said Leftwich.

While work doesn’t finish and Leftwich still has positions to fill, this could be a road map of sorts to making rural healthcare work in an era where it’s becoming fewer and further between.

Copyright 2024 WVLT. All rights reserved.

https://www.wvlt.tv/2024/05/21/one-east-tennessee-medical-center-finds-ways-stay-open-amid-surge-hospital-closures/

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