Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed a Critical Access Hospitals Bill into law this week that ensures the 59 Wisconsin communities that are served by Critical Access Hospitals can leverage additional state resources and federal funding.
The Governor was joined by supporters of the bill at a signing event at the Columbus Community Hospital in Columbus, Wis.
Doyle said the Critical Access Hospitals Bill builds on hospital assessment legislation supporting Wisconsin's large urban and suburban hospitals to help leverage resources and federal funding for small rural hospitals that have been designated as critical access hospitals.
"The Critical Access Hospitals Bill is a win for rural hospitals and taxpayers," Doyle said. "Additional federal funds will help these hospitals avoid payment reductions and damaging cuts to jobs and services. And it will actually increase payments to rural hospitals that serve a lot of Medicaid patients."
The assessment has allowed the state to leverage federal funding and invest hundreds of millions of dollars into Medicaid support to hospitals while also reducing the cost of uncompensated care.
Funds will be used to help train additional physicians to serve in rural areas. Assembly Bill 770 doubles the maximum amount of loan repayment for doctors who decide to practice in a rural area - increasing it from $50,000 to $100,000.
The bill also directs the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health to create family medicine residency programs and rotations at rural hospitals, to help doctors gain experience in critical access hospital settings.
At the signing ceremony, Doyle thanked Columbus Community Hospital CEO Ed Harding for chairing the Committee on Rural Health Care that brought together the Wisconsin Hospital Association and the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative to help develop the bill.