The effect that Medicaid cuts will have on New Yorkers’ access to patient care has dominated concerns about the federal spending bill, but the ones providing care are expected to feel the pain as well.
Nurses, of course, are paid by hospitals, and if some of hospitals’ income streams disappear due to changes in eligibility and access to Medicaid, their future could become murky. In the North Country, for example, The University of Vermont Health Network is uncertain what the changes in funding will mean for them or their nursing staff, though rural hospitals are widely expected to take a hit.
“It’s difficult to predict their real-life implications for hospitals like Alice Hyde Medical Center (AHMC), Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) and Elizabethtown Community Hospital (ECH),” the hospital network said in a statement. “These hospitals serve some of the most rural parts of the state and many in the community rely on Medicaid and Medicare for their health care. So any cut to Medicaid will have a significant impact and challenge us to rethink how we provide care to our communities.”…