The latest federal appropriations bill includes language that could enable some struggling rural Kansas hospitals to develop a new service delivery model that Kansas health experts say might save them. Adoption of the new model, however, will require both community buy-in and enabling state legislation. Several Kansas health care agencies have been working for more than five years on developing an approach similar to the proposed model, which would provide an emergency room, as well as outpatient and post-acute services, but no in-patient hospital care. …The recent federal legislation creates a new “Rural Emergency Hospital” designation, which closely aligns with the one that was being developed in Kansas called a Primary Health Center. It allows such facilities to begin operating in January 2023.
Source: Hutch News.
