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JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI -- Press Release from Scotland County Hospital

Representatives from Missouri’s hospitals and the Missouri Hospital Association traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to meet with Missouri’s congressional delegation and share their views on health care issues.

In their meetings with lawmakers, the hospital leaders discussed several health care finance-related issues, including the federal management of the state’s Disproportionate Share Hospital funding program and regulatory changes for critical access hospitals. In addition to visits with Missouri’s congressional delegation, attendees were briefed by Medicare Payment Advisory Commission leaders on anticipated changes in federal rural health policy.

“It is vitally important that lawmakers and policy leaders understand the real-world effects of federal policy on rural hospitals’ ability to provide care in their communities,” said Herb B. Kuhn, MHA president and CEO. “Missouri’s congressional delegation has done an outstanding job of responding to the challenges that hospitals face.”             

Hospital leaders representing northeast Missouri included Bernard A. Orman Jr., CEO of Samaritan Hospital in Macon, Mo.; Jeffery Davis, D.O., family practice physician, Marcia R. Dial, CEO, and William Harrison Dixon, M.D., staff physician, of Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Mo.; and Amy J. Michael, CEO, of Sullivan County Memorial Hospital in Milan, Mo.  Other leaders from across Missouri that participated are Allen J. Waldo, FACHE, CEO, and John M. Ward, D.O., chief of staff, of Cooper County Memorial Hospital in Boonville, Mo.; James H. Ross, CEO, and Harold A. Williamson Jr. M.D., vice chancellor, of University of Missouri Health Care in Columbia, Mo.; Randy P. Eikermann, board chair, Dan McKinney, administrator, and Michael T. Rothermich, M.D., medical staff president, of Hermann Area District Hospital; R. Brent VanConia, president of St. Mary’s Health Center in Jefferson City, Mo.; Joe F. Brand, board member, and Dennis P. Pryor, administrator, of Salem Memorial District Hospital; Steven F. Biermann, board chair, and John W. Dawes, FACHE, president and CEO, of Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia, Mo.; and Julie Davenport, R.N., CEO, and William Treece, board member, of I-70 Community Hospital in Sweet Springs, Mo.

The delegation of 45 hospital representatives was organized by MHA and comprised of hospital and health system executives, physicians and trustees.

The Missouri Hospital Association is a not-for-profit membership association in Jefferson City that represents 152 Missouri hospitals. In addition to representation and advocacy on behalf of its membership, the association offers continuing education programs on current health care topics and seeks to educate the public, as well as legislative representatives, about health care issues. Information about MHA programs and services is available online at www.mhanet.com.