Glenn County’s only emergency room is closing its doors, after fighting to retain extra Medicare funding.
After operating in Willows for 75 years, Glenn Medical Center announced last week its ER would close in less than 60 days.
The closure follows a federal decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to pull the hospital's Critical Access Hospital (CAH) status. The agency says the hospital is too close to Colusa Medical Center in the next county. That CAH status is what brought in the extra Medicare funding Glenn Medical depended on, said Lauren Still, the hospital’s administrator.
“It costs about $15 million a year to keep that ER open,” Still said, “but we don't make $15 million a year reimbursement in that ER.”
Along with the emergency room, Still said the hospital and other services will also close. Glenn Medical’s outpatient and rural health clinics will remain open.
Still said 150 jobs will be lost, and many employees have already filed resignation letters. The closure will also mean patients will have to drive at least half an hour for care and could face longer wait times.
“This is hurtful on a number of different levels, but mostly it's really just for the community that's losing those critical emergency medical services,” Still said.
Since 2001, Glenn Medical has been designated a CAH. But in the spring, the hospital received a letter stating that it would be losing that title. The CMS said Glenn Medical Center was too close to Colusa Medical Center.
Critical Access Hospitals must be at least 35 miles away from each other, but regulators said Glenn Medical is only 32 miles away — just three miles too close.
The hospital had appealed, arguing the actual driving route is farther than the agency’s estimate. It also received support from local residents and community partners, who sent letters on their behalf. But ultimately they were still notified the title would be revoked.
“Unfortunately, that did not change CMS’s mind,” Still said. “They are holding us to this technicality, and we have no path forward.”
