News & PR
Hammond-Henry Hospital highlights funding challenges facing rural healthcare
By Dalcon DeMaranville, Geneseo Current
On January 12, Hammond-Henry Hospital hosted a press conference with State Representative Li Arellano to outline how gaps in state and federal funding are affecting rural hospitals. While Hammond-Henry serves a rural population, it is also designated as a critical access hospital, a classification intended to help ensure essential healthcare services remain available in remote communities.
Critical access hospitals are small, community-based facilities, typically located in rural areas, that provide vital medical services where alternatives are limited. There are more than 50 such hospitals across Illinois. Hospital leaders emphasized that funding challenges affecting these institutions extend beyond any single community.
State-level funding programs, including Illinois Bill 340B, are intended to support small hospitals and clinics. However, that funding has not yet been extended. At the federal level, recent legislation has added additional administrative requirements, making it more difficult for hospitals to access available funds. While lawmakers have cited $50 billion in aid for rural hospitals, Medicaid reimbursement reductions totaling nearly three times that amount have offset much of that support.
In the past, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursed hospitals at approximately 101 percent of costs. Those reimbursements have since been discontinued, resulting in many patients now being categorized as self-pay or charity care.
Hammond-Henry Hospital CEO Wyatt Brieser said insurance reimbursement practices further complicate the issue. He noted that insurers often direct patients to larger regional facilities for ancillary services such as imaging, rehabilitation, or laboratory work, even when those services are available locally.
“Regarding ancillary services, unfortunately insurers are seeing that they can send a patient to Silvis to a specialized imaging center to receive an MRI,” Brieser said. “They see it as a cost savings. So they force someone who lives in Atkinson, who sees their doctor here and pays taxes here, to go elsewhere to receive the same quality care they could get at Hammond-Henry.”
Brieser added that transportation barriers can prevent patients from receiving care altogether. “If a patient doesn’t drive and relies on public transportation, and an insurer sends them to Rock Island for labs or another service, that patient may not receive the care they need,” he said. “All I’m asking for is patient choice.”
As a tax-supported institution, Hammond-Henry Hospital is a key community stakeholder. Brieser said long-term financial pressures could eventually force the hospital to consider reducing services, despite careful planning.
“Over the last ten years, the hospital has planned for down years,” Brieser said. “We have reserves and a time horizon that allow us to weather difficult periods. But if performance indicators decline and we face ongoing barriers to providing care, along with rising cybersecurity, technology, and facility maintenance costs, we may be forced to make difficult decisions.”
He noted that operating costs continue to rise while insurance reimbursements have not kept pace. “The cost of labor, materials, and services has increased,” Brieser said. “It’s frustrating to see situations where a $175 physical therapy evaluation is reimbursed at only 55 percent by an insurer.”
Brieser said reductions in funding could have a cascading effect, particularly for specialty outpatient services. Programs such as rehabilitation, home health, Parkinson’s therapy, pediatric services, and vestibular care could be at risk if funding challenges persist.
“These services have survived because of our critical access status and the funding associated with it,” he said. “But it becomes increasingly difficult to continue them when that funding is no longer reliable.”
Hospital leadership also addressed concerns regarding the future of long-term care services. Hammond-Henry’s long-term care facility is a 38-bed center that, according to Brieser, has maintained a five-star rating for 14 consecutive years.
“We have one of the best long-term care facilities not just in Henry County, not just in Illinois, but in the nation,” Brieser said.
However, he noted that smaller facilities face financial challenges due to limited scale. The facility’s connection to the hospital remains a key advantage, allowing immediate access to emergency care, physical therapy, imaging, laboratory services, and infectious disease testing.
“If there’s an emergency, we can send residents down the hallway to the emergency room,” Brieser said. “Standalone facilities can’t do that. This model should be recognized by insurers as an example of how long-term care and hospitals can work together.”
Brieser emphasized the importance of maintaining local long-term care services for families and employees alike. “Our community relies on this facility,” he said. “Our staff knows the residents personally, and having quality care close to home allows families to remain connected to their loved ones.”
Hospital officials said discussions with lawmakers are ongoing as they continue to advocate for sustainable funding solutions that preserve access to healthcare services not just in Geneseo but also in rural Illinois.