WJRS News recently sat down with Russell County Hospital CEO Scott Thompson to discuss the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill in Congress and its impact on Medicaid funding.
Thompson told WJRS News the biggest impact will come from cuts to the Hospital Rate Improvement Program, known as HRIP. Those are federal funds, combined with a provider tax, that help make up the difference between what Medicaid pays for a service versus the commercial rate.
Russell County Hospital receives these HRIP funds quarterly, and they make up somewhere around one-eighth of the hospital’s annual revenue.
Thompson said the jury is still out on how steep the cuts to the HRIP program will be, but said the worst-case scenario would mean substantial cuts to these funds the hospital receives.
Thompson, however, said the forecasted cuts to HRIP funds would not be severe enough to close the doors to the hospital.
Stay tuned to WJRS News this week as we bring you more from our discussion with Thompson about The Big Beautiful Bill and what it means for Russell County Hospital.
