Freshman Rep. John Duarte is looking to secure federal relief to revive the shuttered Madera (Calif.) Community Hospital, The San Joaquin Valley Sun reported Jan. 31.
The hospital went bankrupt after losing $2.5 million per month. In a last-ditch effort, Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Healthc had a deal in place to acquire the hospital but backed out after it couldn't fulfill requirements issued by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Now, Mr. Duarte is co-signing a letter with Rep. Jim Costa addressed to Mr. Bonta and HHS requesting emergency relief.
"We need to get Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates up higher than what they are now," Mr. Duarte told the Sun. "We need to get the nursing schools in the Valley to produce more nurses to meet our needs locally, and we need to get some resources from Health and Human Services."