Rural Healthcare in Crisis

Health Management in Rural America is struggling to meet the increase in Medicaid patient demands. In Northern California the amount of Medicaid patients doubled to approximately 40,000 under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA requires Americans to sign up for healthcare insurance or be fined annually.

What rural healthcare networks especially those that serve low-income individuals and families are seeing is an increase in demand for services but not enough nurses and physicians to meet the demand.

In rural Northern California some health centers have had to stop accepting new Medicaid beneficiaries which causes the patients in some cases to have to travel long distances for primary care or use local emergency departments for regular or preventative care.

It’s a tug of war of resources affecting patients, physicians, hospitals, clinics, emergency rooms and even potential health care providers looking into the career of health management.

Share your Thoughts:

How would you as a health manager deal with the increase in Medicaid recipients in a rural area? What could you see as potential solutions and barriers? Does your State participate in the ACA Medicaid expansion, if so what effects have you seen?

Thank you to Baylor University MBA in Healthcare for the skill to brainstorm and help problem solve complex health management questions.

Sources:

https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2016/08/05/medicaid-expansion-straining-rural-providers?WT.mc_id=Email|DailyBriefing+Headline|DBA|DB|2016Aug05|ATestDB2016Aug05||||&elq_cid=1339315&x_id=003C000001tclvqIAA

https://usm.maine.edu/sites/default/files/styles/landingpage_slide/public/muskie/cutler/RuralHospitalSign_photo_hires_500.jpg?itok=kdQ1u6lT