Nursing homes are struggling financially, which has led to many closing nationally. A Greybull care center is considering closing as well. But it may have found a temporary bandage.
Rick Schroeder, the interim CEO of Three Rivers Health, said it went through a financial analysis between 2017 and this fiscal year. The study found that revenues from departments like the Emergency Room and the clinic were being used to cover the care center. The pandemic and inflation are some reasons for the increased cost of operating the care center.
“It became evident that we're a small organization, and we don't have that kind of revenue from other parts of the facility to continue to subsidize that number in the care center,” he said.
Schroeder said closing the 37 bed nursing home became a possibility. But the community is pushing back on it.
“The end result is we may have to close it. But we're not looking at that right now,” said Schroeder. “We're looking at everything we can think of to keep it open.”
Schroeder said with the help of the Wyoming Department of Health they received approval for a Medicaid rate increase for six months. Now, they receive $183 and some change per day per resident but that rate would be changed to $293.3 per day per resident.
“So it's temporary. But what that does is it protects us financially, while we continue to work really hard on finding ways to keep it open,” he said.
Before the Medicaid rate increase can go into effect, Schroeder needs to recommend it to the board and then the board needs to approve it. The next board meeting is September 7.