Kentucky Auditor Adam Edelen will host a series of public hearings across the Commonwealth this summer to talk about the fiscal health of rural hospitals.
The 10 hearings kick off a study by the Auditor’s office that seeks to understand the challenges facing small, community hospitals that provide health care to 45 percent of Kentuckians and are key economic drivers in those communities.
“Rural hospitals are teetering on the edge of survival in many Kentucky communities,” Auditor Edelen said. “This is an effort to understand the degree to which our hospitals are in crisis and what might be done to save them.”
The Auditor’s office is currently soliciting the financial records of some 66 public, non-profit and for-profit hospitals in rural western and eastern Kentucky. A survey asking key questions about their fiscal health will then be conducted. The Auditor’s office plans to issue a report this fall.
Hospital administrators and staff, local elected officials, other health care providers and the public are invited to attend the hearings to voice their concerns and experiences in rural hospitals.
The public hearing in Morehead will take place at 10:00am on Wednesday, July 23 in the MSU Center for Health Education and Research (CHER Building) located at 316 West Second Street, across from the St. Claire Regional Medical Center. Parking is available nearby in adjacent lots.
