Cost Concerns Closing Colusa County's Only Hospital
COLUSA COUNTY (CBS13) — Colusa County's only hospital was forced to close its doors after it simply couldn't find the revenue to pay the bills.
The hospital has been an asset to the community for more than 40 years, but it will close its doors on April 22. The hospital tried to find a way, but it was just too late.
Chief nursing officer Catherine Hughes has been at the hospital since Day 1 in 1970.
"The community, what are they gonna do for healthcare, what happens to those that live here, and that depend on us," she said.
For the past 45 year, the hospital is where she found her extended family between staff and patients that have walked through the doors.
"They are your friends, your neighbors, folks that live across the street from you, there's a contingent of those folks that are alive because we saved them, and the thought of losing that, is sad," she said.
The financial stresses were no secret, and staff had to find a way. The small hospital had a big overhead. From in-house IT to billing, collections and quality control, the cost of the core services wasn't being met by the volume of patients.
Reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid weren't cutting it.
The hospital tried downsizing by cutting maternity and the intensive care unit, but that didn't help.
Colusa County Supervisor Mark Marshall says the county didn't receive official notification of the closing until Friday and wish it was notified sooner.
"We don't have a lot of time to now step up and try and decide what we're gonna do to provide at least emergency care for our citizens," he said.
