Baxter Regional Medical Center has not yet had a confirmed case of COVID-19, but the Mountain Home hospital is nevertheless feeling the impacts of the pandemic. While hospitals in hot spots like New York have been filled to near capacity with COVID patients, many hospitals elsewhere have experienced the reverse. The delay of nonemergency procedures and other declines in hospital visits as people stay at home have dramatically slowed the volume of patients at Baxter Regional, leaving the hospital perilously short on revenues.
“We are literally fighting for our survival at this point,” said Ron Peterson, Baxter Regional’s CEO. The hospital announced a series of cuts to salaries and staffing last week; another round of furloughs Friday brought the total reduction in staff positions to 350.
The financial picture remains dire at Baxter Regional, Peterson said, despite significant aid from various initiatives enacted by the state and federal government to try to help hospitals survive the crisis. The CARES Act, the federal stimulus bill passed by Congress this month, included $100 billion for medical providers, including hospitals, of which $30 billion has been doled out to states. Arkansas has thus far distributed $326 million to 2,905 providers in the state, including Baxter Regional, which received $6 million.
Last month, the governor announced a $116 million Medicaid-funded initiative to help providers and hospitals, as well as a $10 million community development block grant program to help rural hospitals. Peterson said it was too early to say what impact the $116 million initiative would have on Baxter. On Saturday, the governor announced the distribution of the $10 million in grants to 27 hospitals in the state, including $500,000 to Baxter Regional.
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