2020 Year in Review: Great River Health sees a hopeful end to a tumultuous year
The Hawk Eye
WEST BURLINGTON Great River Health started 2020 positioned to reduce by $10 million the $26 million operating loss it had accrued over the past several years, but a virus lurking in China s Wuhan Province would rattle the Southeast Iowa health system onto another course entirely.
Great River Health had launched it s Project Synergy cost-saving initiative after the 2018 merger of Great River Medical Center and Fort Madison Community Hospital in an effort to make up for money lost in part from Iowa s privatization of Medicaid.
Through that initiative, Matt Wenzel, president and CEO of Great River Health, had anticipated ending the fiscal year with a loss of between $10 to $16 million, the end goal being to eventually reach an operating margin of between 3% and 4%, as opposed to the negative 8%, or $26 million loss, that Wenzel had announced in 2019.
The Hawk Eye
WEST BURLINGTON – Great River Medical Center and Fort Madison Community Hospital will combine into one hospital with one name to reach a new federal classification, hospital officials announced Wednesday.
They will be known as Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center, if an application to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for Sole Community Hospital Classification is approved in 2021.
The SCH program was created to maintain access to needed health services for Medicare beneficiaries in rural communities by providing greater reimbursement.
Hospitals must meet specific criteria for SCH classification, including distance from other hospitals.
To meet the proximity requirement, GRMC and FMCH will become one hospital with two campuses. The newly named hospital will operate under parent corporation Great River Health. A reduction in employees is not anticipated, according to a release from Great River Health.