Where do RURALS fit into DSRIP?

   Where do rural hospitals and healthcare facilities fit in with DSRIP?  And how will DSRIP help those facilities in their efforts to transform healthcare, as is the stated purpose of DSRIP.

   I posed those questions to Jason Helgerson, New York State Medicaid Director, at last week’s meeting of the new York State Rural Health Council, of which I am a member.  For his part, Helgerson did his best to assuage an anxious audience, but the reality is that no one really knows the answers to those questions.  Jason did opine that rural hospitals would be strengthened by collaborating and/or affiliating with larger entities.  The parameters of the DSRIP seem to strongly suggest these types of affiliations; but for very good reasons, solid examples are difficult to find.

   I asked him how this process would protect rural hospitals, most of which are not only the healthcare backbone of their community, but also the economic foundation of those communities.  Again, he pointed to the prospect of rurals being strengthened by building ties with larger hospitals, adding that he recognized the importance of rural hospitals to their community and to the entire healthcare equation.

   Encouragingly, Helgerson is scheduled to speak again at the upcoming NSARH conference in September, and that is a credit to his promise to keep rural hospitals in the DSRIP loop.  And, as we reported earlier, he has promised members of the Assembly—particularly in Western New York—to keep them informed quarterly of DSRIP developments and decisions.

   As always, we will communicate directly with you, and on this blog, about any news we receive on DSRIP.

John

John Bartimole, President

Western New York Healthcare Association

1876 Niagara Falls Boulevard

Tonawanda, NY 14150

716.695.0843 (main) / 716.581.0625 (cell)

jbartimo@wnyha.com