The changes in reimbursement also changed the delivery of care from an inpatient to an outpatient model. Because of the limited amount of capital available to many small rural hospitals, their conversion to facilities providing state-of-theart outpatient care was frequently deferred. Over the next 30 years small hospitals closed, affiliated with larger hospital systems, were sold to for-profit chains, or they existed at only marginal levels - barely surviving. For counties owning hospitals, the rising costs of operating them, plus the costs required to convert from an inpatient to an outpatient model, placed additional stress on the rising operational costs of running their counties. As a result, those county's annual contributions to their hospital's annual operating budgets declined significantly or ceased. Small rural hospitals found it difficult to survive.
As nonprofit rural hospitals struggled, they did not forego their commitment to provide care for those who could not afford to pay. Mercer County Hospital has been caring for its citizens for many years. In 2007 MCH will assume nearly $900,000.00 in charity and uncollectible accounts on gross revenues of $16.9 million, decreased by contractual adjustments from Medicaid and third-party payers to $12.3 million.
Today MCH receives a total annual contribution, a subsidy from Mercer County, of approximately $363,000.00 primarily to assist in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (the employee's retirement program).
Currently, a national Critical Access program for rural hospitals with 25 beds or less has been implemented to right the reimbursement inequities of the past. Since Mercer County Hospital's designation as a critical access facility was obtained in 2000, it has collaborated with other healthcare providers in a variety of partnerships to offer services that the community needs and are appropriate for the hospital to provide. The critical access program's reimbursement, along with these partnerships, has provided the hospital with prospects of a prosperous future. The critical access program is important to Mercer County Hospital because it is based on the percentage of Medicare volume rather than just the total number of patients served. As you may know, our area has a significant number of senior citizens, so this program helps us provide service when it might not otherwise be feasible.
Over the past few years MCH has enhanced many of its existing programs and has added several new ones, such as MRI and Nuclear Medicine, and specialties clinics, such as the Diabetes Clinic, Fall Prevention Clinic, Memory Clinic, Spine Clinic, and a Women's Health Program. MCH has also added several new physicians and specialties to the physicians' clinic, such as Geriatric Medicine, Psychiatry, and Women's Health. Area residents are now seeking their care close to home more frequently, rather than traveling to the Quad Cities, Galesburg, or beyond.
1930
•Mercer County home to a few private hospitals
1940
•Stites Hospital opens (privately owned)
1943
•Stites Hospital closes
•Special County Board meeting called to discuss need for a hospital in the county
1944
•Mercer County voters approve a hospital maintenance tax
1945
• County Board calls a special election to approve a hospital constitution bond
•Aledo City Council volunteers to sell the city North Park for a new hospital site
1947
•Mercer County approves the building of a $1 million facility using Hill-Burton funds
1948
•Ground-breaking for the new hospital
1950
•Open House of new facility
•First patient admitted to new facility
1956
•Mercer County Hospital Women's Auxiliary formed
1965
•Hospital remodeled to increase bed capacity from 57 to 66
1967
•Physical Therapy added to services
• Inhalation Therapy added to services
1972
• ICU Unit added
1980
• Construction begins on a new 53-bed hospital
1982
•New hospital opens
1983
•Specialty services added:
Orthopedics
Ophthalmology
Urology
Healthcare climate changes to outpatient care
Addition of DRG and CMS
1986
•Ambulance service added
1987
•Swing bed program added
•Home Health Care services added
1988
•Extended Care services added
1989
•Podiatry clinic added
1990
•In-house emergency room physician added for weekend coverage
•MCH begins management for Mercer County Health Department
•Mercer Foundation for Health established
1992
•CT scanner added
1993
•Medical Clinic opens
1996
• Join with Trinity Health and OSF St. Francis for Teleradiology network
1997
•Medical Office building constructed
• Medical Associates Clinic relocates
•Mercer County Health Department relocates
1998
•Outpatient Clinics established:
Rehabilitation
Orthopedics
Gastroenterology
Urology
1999
•Critical Access process begins
• Data Processing for Y2K updated
2000
• In-house 24-hour emergency room physician coverage begins
•MCH receives CAH designation
2001
•Ophthalmology outpatient clinic established
• Mercer County Board of Supervisors instituted (independent hospital governing board)
2003
• Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network formed
2006
•Nuclear Medicine added
•Telepsychiatry added
• Psychiatry outpatient clinic formed
• Dr. Dennis Palmer receives the Illinois Hospital Association Rural Physician of Excellence Award
•Dr. Palmer celebrates 30 years of service to the community
2007
•Fall Prevention Clinic added
•Memory Clinic added
•Women's Health Clinic added
•Diabetes Program receives certification and national recognition (NDPR)
• $10.5 million major hospital renovation plan approved by hospital governing board and county board
• Chairman of the Governing Board, Mr. Don Johnson, receives the 2007 Illinois Hospital Association Distinguished Service Award |
