On Tuesday, Sen. Doug Jones, D-AL, released a statemnt in response to news that Georgiana Medical Center would be closing its doors at the end of March.

Ivy Creek Healthcare, the owner of the Georgiana facility, stated that it would be closing the rural health facility due to rising healthcare costs and cuts in reimbursements.

“For years, our rural hospitals have been warning public officials about the financial cliff they faced in large part as a result of unfair Medicare reimbursement rates and the refusal to expand Medicaid in Alabama,” Jones said. How many more rural health care providers need to close for meaningful action to be taken? This should be a wake-up call – actually, another wake up call.  We all have a responsibility to take action – to expand Medicaid, to fight for wage index reform, to find opportunities to lower the cost of health care – and to find common ground to best serve our communities.”

Jones noted in the statement that 13 hospitals have closed in Alabama since 2011, seven of which were in rural areas.

Jones, who has advocated for rural healthcare via his position on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, was recently honored by the National Rural Healthcare Association for his dedication to the cause of rural healthcare.

Jones has continually advocated for Alabama to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a move that he says
“would bring $2 billion in Alabama taxpayer dollars back to Alabama” and “provide coverage to approximately 360,000 Alabamians.”

Jones also asserts that the move would “help put hospitals back on a sustainable financial path.”

Alabama Hospitals Associate Policy Director Danne Howard says nearly 88 percent of Alabama’s rural hospitals are operating “in the red” and are not currently receiving the reimbursements necessary for covering the cost of delivering care.

Jones has called for reforms to the Medicare Wage Index, which currently gives Alabama the lowest reimbursement rate in the country.

Hospitals in the state receive 67 percent of the national average in reimbursements for medical worker labor.

California currently receives well over 100 percent of the national average, according to Jones’ statement.