Adventist Health Columbia Gorge in The Dalles, Ore., plans to reduce its inpatient bed count by nearly half and transition to critical access hospital status to “align our designation with patient demand,” a spokesperson for the health system told Becker’s.
To obtain critical access designation, hospitals must have no more than 25 beds and an average patient stay under 96 hours, according to CMS. The hospital currently has 49 beds, but its average daily census has been 17 over the past decade.
“During that time, we have not been staffed to 49 beds nor needed them, which shows that 25 inpatient beds are more than adequate to meet the needs of our service area,” a spokesperson for Adventist told Becker’s. “We are committed to keeping local access to vital clinical services like our extensive Celilo Cancer Center, 24/7 maternity and emergency care, robotic orthopedic surgery and sports medicine, and primary care for every age and stage.”
Adventist does not expect to lay off any of the hospital’s more than 500 employees if the beds are decommissioned, according to The Goldendale Sentinel.
While cutting services to meet these requirements can be a tough decision, the designation can provide these hospitals with a path toward financial stability. Critical access designation would qualify the hospital for higher Medicare reimbursement rates under a program designed to preserve access to essential services in rural communities.
The move comes about two and a half years since Adventist Health acquired the 49-bed hospital.
Adventist operates 27 hospitals — including three in Oregon — with more than 3,700 beds and provides outpatient care at more than 430 clinics, according to its website.
