What happens when a hospital loses its Medicare/Medicaid funding??

[dura_mater]

I know that this means they will no longer be reimbursed for care to these pts, but what happens to the hospital itself?

Do they usually go out of business? Will they be bought out by another company?

The reason I am asking is I am a new grad (Dec 09) and I have been having a terrible time finding a job in So Ca. During school, the only facility that we did any med/surg clinicals with was a small, local hospital in the area. Hence, the only contacts I was able to make was with this facility.

I have been trying to get hired on with them since Dec of last year. They hired some new grads in Feb, but I wasn't one of them (that's a whole other thread...) anyway, I still want to work for them, so I have been keeping in contact with the NM of the unit I want to be on.

I have even been volunteering at this facility, to let them know how serious I am about wanting to work for them.

Now that I have learned that they are losing their Medi/Medi funding, I am so unsure as to what I should do......

Is it a waste of time for me to continue pursuing a job opportunity with them??

Even before the knews of them losing their funding, I wasn't sure if they would open up another new grad program soon (but the NM told me, maybe in late April). But now with today's news, I am more unsure than ever.

Do you think they might go on a hiring freeze? Close their doors all together?

I so desperately need a job, and this place seemed like the only good lead I had....

Sorry if I rambled on, I'm just frustrated.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

when a hospital losses medicare and medicaid funding due to long standing patient care issues not corrected. facility is usually closed if not brought out by another group....most close as in the case of martin luther king in la.

see this news article:

federal officials say they will cut medicare funding to murrieta ...

...federal regulators first responded to a complaint at the hospital in june 2007. by july 2009, regulators were prepared to cut southwest’s medicare funding, but instead gave hospital officials six months to fix the problems, according to arther.

southwest has never lost medicare funding before, he said. arther said only a few hospitals each year are cut off in the region that includes california, arizona, nevada, hawaii and pacific territories,

the last los angeles-area hospital to lose medicare funding was martin luther king hospital, he said. county leaders closed king in 2007 after federal regulators cut $200 million in annual federal payments due to ongoing lapses in care. two years before, uc irvine medical center closed its liver transplant program after federal regulators withdrew medicare funding...

my recomendation is to change course and focus on other facilities in your area.

[caliotter3]

Sounds as if it would be wise to focus your energy in other directions.

[MeganS]

Remember LA County King/Drew hospital...they lost Medicare/MediCal and then lost their accreditation...it is sitll closed but the county is trying to revive it. I remember at the El Camino CC nursing job fare that the King representative was going on and on about the high rate of pay new nurses got when hired by King and King was hiring. I passed as I wanted my first job to be with a hospital who offered quality care (and my instincts were right because the hospital closed down within 6 months).

There are so many hospitals in So Cal. If that does not work, try VA, Sheriff's dept, home health, private duty, travel.

[eric909]

census goes down=nurses get sent home=bad check