By Kyle Roberts
Ruston Regional Speciality Hospital CEO Mark Rice announced Tuesday the facility will be closed effective midnight of January 31, 2025.
The staff, which numbers more than 70, was notified of the upcoming closure Tuesday morning, citing both expenses and lack of patients as the primary reasons for shutting down.
“It is with deep regret and profound sadness that we are announcing that Ruston Regional Specialty Hospital will be closing, effective at midnight, January 31, 2025,” Rice announced in a statement emailed out Tuesday. “Most of you know that Ruston Regional Specialty Hospital (“Ruston Regional”), is owned and operated by Priority Hospital Group, LLC (PHG). This announcement, which is official, will bring cessation to patient care after patients currently in the hospital are either discharged or transferred to the PHG hospital in Monroe.”
Rice addressed issues with both Medicare and Medicaid Services making it more difficult for patients to be approved for care in long-term care facilities.
“After the Public Health Emergency (PHE) ended in May of 2023, traditional Medicare (through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) disqualified a lot of patients, who prior to the PHE, were eligible for a stay in a long-term care hospital (LTCH),” Rice said in the statement. “In other words, Medicare admission criteria became more stringent, disqualifying certain types of diagnoses, such as those patients with severe wounds. CMS did this by imposing a prerequisite “three midnights in a critical care unit at a short-term acute care hospital” rule for a patient to qualify for admission to the LTCH. This was highly debated and a controversial change in the industry. It was not rooted in clinical necessity but rather a “band-aid” attempt to help reduce overall Medicare spending on healthcare for seniors. Nevertheless, the rule did take effect after the PHE ended, and we at Ruston Regional did everything possible to mitigate the rule and keep the hospital open.”
Rice also addressed patients in Ruston looking for health care in Monroe and Shreveport as a factor.
“Ruston has an issue with outward migration,” Rice said in the statement. “In other words, although there are excellent physicians here in Ruston, far too many residents of Lincoln Parish voluntarily choose to seek hospitalization outside of Ruston, opting for the cities of Shreveport, Bossier City and Monroe. This is one reason you see providers from Monroe building facilities and programs in Ruston, to offer additional options to Ruston residents. After patients leave Ruston, identifying and attracting them back to Ruston for their post-acute and rehabilitation care is increasingly difficult. This is due in large part to the growth in Medicare Advantage programs and the necessary pre-authorizations and approvals that go along with getting these patients approved for admission.
“The bottom line is that considering all the above, the hospital just cannot achieve the level of financial performance required to sustain operations. The Ruston market is too small to support a specialty hospital like Ruston Regional under current healthcare realities and local market dynamics. Ruston residents can still travel to Monroe to obtain LTCH services, which is good considering services will still be available to Ruston residents, but no doubt less convenient now that families will have to drive to Monroe for quality LTCH services.”
