Cumberland River Hospital Hoping To Reopen As Critical Access Hospital

Cumberland River Hospital hoping to reopen in Celina as a Critical Access Hospital, but what does that designation mean?

Terry Hill is the Senior Advisor and Founder of the National Rural Health Resource Center. He said Critical Access Hospitals are specific in the maximum capacity of 25 beds and the way they are funded.

“It would have some pretty significant financial advantages,” Hill said. “That’s basically it. The difference is instead of just getting paid a certain amount of money for a particular procedure, critical access hospitals get paid for whatever the cost of that procedure is.”

Hill said the hospital is most advantageous to communities in rural areas because of that financial model. He said there are approximately 1,325 critical access hospitals across the United States.

Hill said the hospital is able to offer the same kind of emergency care as most large hospitals. He said the main difference is that critical access hospitals likely are unable to perform major surgery.

“They are more financially successful and they’ve sustained fewer closures because of that,” Hill said. “Even though some critical access hospitals do close, we see fewer critical access hospitals close in rural areas than those that are not.”

Hill said a key point for the Cumberland River Hospital to reopen as a critical access hospital will come from the state’s inspection using federal Department of Health guidelines. He said one criterion they look at will be the proximity of the hospital to other medical facilities.