Greene County Hospital, Nursing Home and Physician’s Clinic informed its employees this week that the health facility is experiencing substantial financial shortfalls and will be cutting both employee salaries and work hours. The salaries of the administrator and the leadership team are also being cut by 5% as the hospital works to balance its budget. Mark Chustz, the hospital administrator, stated, “Cutting salaries and work hours is a painful process. We had hoped to avoid these cuts but we could find no other solution to the revenue shortfalls.”

Like most small rural hospitals in Alabama, Greene County Hospital and Nursing Home is struggling to keep open. This year so far, hospitals in Thomasville and Roanoke, Alabama have closed. Hill Hospital in York recently took on new management in an effort to keep that facility open.         

The administrator explained that there are several factors contributing to the organization’s declining revenues. “The number one problem for the hospital and the nursing home is low census. That means we don’t have enough people being admitted to both the hospital and nursing home. Another problem is that many people in the county receive their medical care outside the county and that really has a negative impact on us. Also, the Bingo parlors no longer make contributions the hospital and nursing home.”           

In the past, the Greene County Hospital and Nursing Home received $120,000 a year from Greenetrack. The hospital and nursing home no longer receive any Bingo proceeds from the tax per machine or from charitable contributions. The Hospital Board of Directors plans to meet with Sheriff Benison to request that he restore some funding from charity bingo.

Another large change from last year is that Medicare and Medicaid have reduced payments to both the hospital and the nursing home. While cutting what it pays for services, Medicare changed its payment methods in a way that made providing services more expensive. In addition to the Medicare changes, last month the state  legislature voted to increase the state’s nursing home bed tax. Greene County’s monthly tax rate was increased to $144,000 a year. “That money comes right off our bottom line, “ said Chustz.

Greene County Hospital is working hard to expand the variety of services it offers so its patients don’t need to travel to DCH or Bryan Whitfield for diagnostic testing or outpatient rehabilitation services.  Outpatient rehabilitation services are available at our facility, said Chustz. “We have a rehab gym in the Physician’s Clinic. If your doctor orders outpatient physical therapy, speech therapy or occupational therapy, you can get that done right here in town. All our therapists are employees of the hospital and I think we have some of the best therapists in the area. As word gets out about these therapists, we hope that Greene County residents will no longer be driving to Tuscaloosa or Demopolis to get these services.”

One of the hospital’s strategies to increase the number of county residents using our facilities is adding diagnostic testing services. The hospital added a 4-slice CAT scanner and ultrasound testing last year, so patients needing those tests don’t have to drive to town to get these tests done. “We are working hard to provide high quality care, new testing capabilities and excellent customer service to the residents of the county. Our hope is that our efforts will improve the community’s confidence in our abilities and therefore increase their use of our services,” said Chustz.

John Zippert, Chair of the Hospital and Nursing Board, said, “If Greene County residents do not use the facilities and service available at the Hospital, they may soon wake up to find the facility has closed and is no longer in business to serve the community.”