The One Huge Lovely Invoice Act’s new $50 billion rural hospital fund is a optimistic step towards advancing rural well being infrastructure — however short-term injections of money received’t repair deeply rooted systemic challenges, one knowledgeable identified.
“Cash just isn’t the one reply,” stated Jason Griffin, managing director at consulting agency Nordic Global.
Throughout his time at Nordic, Griffin has labored alongside organizations like Microsoft and CHIME to assist modernize rural hospitals’ IT infrastructure and increase the usage of digital well being instruments amid ongoing workforce and reimbursement challenges.
He is aware of that rural suppliers’ stability is deeply threatened by looming Medicaid cuts. Whereas last-minute funding was added as a stopgap, Griffin famous it is going to solely cowl about 37% of those suppliers’ potential losses over the subsequent 5 years.
Sooner or later, he stated he want to see federal and state governments spend money on infrastructure — corresponding to dependable broadband connectivity and secure EHR techniques — as a substitute of leaving rural hospitals to shoulder prices.
Higher infrastructure would allow sustainable telehealth and value-based care, Griffin added.
Federal and state funding also needs to assist healthcare workforce improvement in rural communities, together with partnerships with universities and medical coaching packages, he acknowledged.
“All of that actually could be wanted to assist long-term sustainability with that money injection. I imply, we are able to spend some huge cash, after which 5 years from now, be in the identical boat,” Griffin remarked.
Cybersecurity is one space the place rural hospitals’ staffing challenges are particularly acute, he famous — stating that these suppliers usually have solely 4 or 5 folks of their IT departments
Most rural suppliers wrestle to handle third-party danger, which is now a number one reason for healthcare knowledge breaches, Griffin stated.
“Prolonged downtime, even over per week, can shut your group down completely. And we’ve seen these breaches trigger as much as 5 or 6 weeks of downtime — and it simply can’t be sustained,” he declared.
Rural hospitals should consistently select between investing in scientific tools or cybersecurity — which is a burden city hospitals don’t face, Griffin added.
He additionally famous that there aren’t any necessities for state-by-state reporting or for measuring outcomes tied to the funding. He harassed the necessity for metrics — corresponding to emergency division wait occasions and maternal well being outcomes — to trace whether or not this funding improves take care of rural communities.
In Griffin’s view, a one-time money injection dangers being wasted with out clear funding methods. He believes investments ought to go towards infrastructure enhancements, workforce improvement and shared providers.
