Bennett County Booster

Hospital in critical condition

Posted Local at Jan 26, 2012

By Tim Huether
The Bennett County Hospital Board and administrator George Minder have been performing CPR on the Bennett County Hospital to keep it alive, while waiting for a break on financing, but time may be running out if assistance is not found and a difficult decision may need to be made as early as April 1.
According to Minder, he and the board met with Governor Daugaard recently to discuss their financial situation and to request more funding from Medicaid. Bennett County is in a specialized grouping and are the only facility out of eight like them in the state, not receiving what is called an enhanced reimbursement.
Under enhanced reimbursement, they would get 95 percent reimbursement of billed charges. Currently the facility has been getting about 44 percent at best.
Because Bennett County is placed in a categorization called Diagnostic Related Groups (DRGs), Medicaid does not have to reimburse them at the 95 percent. A DRG is a facility that has more than 30 Medicaid discharges a month.
According to Minder and board members, this unfairly puts Bennett County in a category with all the large hospitals and penalizes a facility like Bennett County that really needs the funding.
Minder said he and the board were told they would have 45 minutes to meet with the governor because of his tight schedule, but the governor went well past an hour to hear their concerns and said they would look into things and get back to them in a week or two. He said the governor has been very generous to the facility and they appreciate all he has done and hope something can be worked out.
If they are unable to get the needed changes made in the Medicaid formula or find other funding, the hospital will be faced with closing.

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