Federal and state government cuts to public health agencies and programs are leaving a gap in access to care. Hospitals in many communities are preparing to fill that gap, if they can.
The Trump administration canceled around $12 billion in grant funding for state health departments late March, prompting layoffs in multiple states. A judge has temporarily blocked the funding termination, but challenges are ongoing. The grants supported a variety of services, including vaccinations and measles outbreak response. HHS also ended $11.4 billion grants from the CDC and $1 billion in mental health and substance abuse funding, which supported infectious disease tracking, mental health services and projects to modernize outdated systems.
HHS also reported plans to layoff 10,000 employees as it restructures to save around $1.8 billion. The agency closed its long COVID office amid the restructuring.
What does all this mean for hospitals and health systems committed to healthy communities?
“When I think about the current state of funding for some of the public health departments, that infrastructure, I see some of the cutbacks that are in flight being challenged. When I look at that as a set of challenges, when something occurs with the public health department, I have to evaluate our organization, not just myself, but our organization,” said Kemberly Blackledge, DSc., chief revenue cycle officer and interim CFO of Nashville General Hospital. The full interview will be available on the “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast” in the coming weeks. “I must evaluate: what does the outcome of this impact to our health departments mean for us as a hospital right now because many patients receive vaccinations and other services there. If those services are no longer available or reduced, then we will have a higher level of need to provide care for the community because of their inability to get care in some places.”
The federal government is also mulling Medicaid cuts and more price transparency, which would place additional strain on hospitals.
“The federal regulations are going to either be for us as a hospital, a headwind, meaning they’re slapping us in the face,” said Dr. Blackledge. “We’ve got to figure it out, come up with a solution and understand what it means to operationalize it. Or they’ll be a tailwind, pushing us from the back, forcing us to comply with the federal regulations, which we must. What does that look like for us to operationalize that federal regulation if it’s considered a tailwind?”
Nashville General is meeting these challenges head-on by partnering with others, including America’s Essential Hospitals, for long-term success. The hospital needs to upgrade its physical building to become more efficient and cost-effective, and Dr. Blackledge is focused on planning for a financially stable future.
“This is what I call tough times,” she said. “Some of that is anticipated challenges, cutbacks, inflation and federal regulations. But financial stability is real, so how can we provide services at the most reasonable or best cost and have financial stability? In order to do that, there has to be tough decisions. We have to manage our forecasting, we have to plan, we have to communicate, we have to be honest and we have continuous evaluations.”
link