Congressman Mark Alford has sent a letter to the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) about the Duplication of Benefits (DOB) process for rural Missouri hospitals seeking relief funds.
When disbursing federal relief funds, FEMA confirms that there was no “duplication of benefits” in the claim. This means that FEMA verifies that the applicant did not receive another form of financial assistance from a different source, such as insurance.
In his letter, the congressman states that many rural hospitals in his district have not received their relief funds from FEMA due to long DOB review processes.
Alford represents Missouri’s 4th Congressional District, which includes large swaths of rural counties in the western part of the state. Many of those counties are home to some of Missouri’s 57 rural hospitals.
The letter names five specific hospitals that claimed they were still waiting on the DOB review process in order to receive their relief funds. Three of the five had been waiting over a year for their DOB. All of the hospitals named were awaiting millions of dollars in funds.
“Right now, hospitals all across Missouri are being financially pinched by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) inability to turn around reimbursement requests. In some instances, hospitals have been waiting to get reimbursed for claims from last year and have no clue where the status of those claims stand. These funds are needed to operate. That’s exactly why I am demanding that FEMA expedite their review and disbursement process. Our hospitals are depending on it,” Alford said
Numerous rural hospitals in the state are already struggling financially for a variety of reasons and according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform released this past summer, some could be facing closure in the near future.
The report stated that 33% of rural hospitals in Missouri were facing closure, with 14% at immediate risk of closure. The report also showed that 10 of Missouri’s rural hospitals have closed since 2005.
Based on the numbers in Alford’s letter, the longer the rural hospitals continue to operate without their relief funds, their already heavy financial burdens continue to worsen.
Many rural hospitals, including some of the ones specified in the letter, are the sole healthcare providers for the surrounding community. Without some rural hospitals, residents could be forced to drive longer distances for a range of medical services.
According to Alford, a lot of these financial pressures could be alleviated if the DOB review process was expedited.
Congressman Alford’s full letter can be read here.
