Durbin Meets With Rural Health Care Providers
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with Illinois members of the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) to speak about the challenges of providing health care in rural communities. During their meeting, Durbin and the health care leaders discussed the importance of preserving Medicaid funding from Republican proposals to cut health insurance benefits and coverage from millions of Americans. They also discussed workforce initiatives to recruit and retain health care providers to serve in rural areas. To help address the shortage of health care professionals, Durbin secured $1 billion in the American Rescue Plan for scholarship and loan repayment awards through the National Health Service Corps and Nurse Corps to build a more diverse pipeline of clinicians and recruit more health providers to serve in shortage areas.
Durbin also spoke about his Rural Hospital Closure Relief Act, which he introduced earlier this week. The bipartisan legislation would update Medicare’s “Critical Access Hospital” (CAH) designation so more rural hospitals can qualify for this financial lifeline and continue to serve their communities with quality, affordable health care services. Small and rural hospitals are the backbone of their communities, and often the largest employers, contributing nearly $5 billion in direct spending on payroll, goods, and services in Illinois. Yet more than 135 rural hospitals have closed nationwide in the past dozen years, an estimated 50 percent of rural hospitals ran operating losses last year, and more than 400 hospitals are facing closure risk.
“Across rural Illinois, hospitals and clinics are the backbone of the local economy. I am committed to helping recruit more doctors, nurses, dentists, and behavioral health providers, and ensure sustainable federal funding for these critical anchors of the community,” said Durbin.
A photo of the meeting is available here.
Attending the meeting were representatives from:
- Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network
- Massac Memorial Hospital (Metropolis)
- Franklin Hospital (Benton)
- Pana Community Hospital (Pana)
- Community Hospital of Staunton (Staunton)
- Deaconess Illinois Crossroads Hospital (Mt. Vernon)
- UIC College of Medicine (Rockford)
- Arukah Institute of Healing (Princeton)
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