OSF St. Francis Hospital & Medical Group, based in Escanaba, Mich., is applying for Critical Access Hospital status under the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, according to a hospital news release.
To qualify for critical access status, hospitals must be located in a rural community more than a 35-mile drive from another hospital, maintain no more than 25 inpatient beds and have a maximum annual average length of stay of four days. Peter Jennings, president and CEO of OSF St. Francis, said if approved, the change will provide greater reimbursement and help the hospital prepare for a more stable economic future.
"We are part of a new generation of critical access hospitals," Mr. Jennings said. "In the past, hospitals chose CAH status as a means of staying open. Today, hospitals choose this status for the opportunities it provides."
Hospital leaders, who believe the facility meets CAH criteria, said the application for critical access status will be submitted to the State of Michigan in mid-November. They hope to achieve critical access status by late spring of 2012.
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To qualify for critical access status, hospitals must be located in a rural community more than a 35-mile drive from another hospital, maintain no more than 25 inpatient beds and have a maximum annual average length of stay of four days. Peter Jennings, president and CEO of OSF St. Francis, said if approved, the change will provide greater reimbursement and help the hospital prepare for a more stable economic future.
"We are part of a new generation of critical access hospitals," Mr. Jennings said. "In the past, hospitals chose CAH status as a means of staying open. Today, hospitals choose this status for the opportunities it provides."
Hospital leaders, who believe the facility meets CAH criteria, said the application for critical access status will be submitted to the State of Michigan in mid-November. They hope to achieve critical access status by late spring of 2012.
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