MADERA, Calif. - Services at Madera Community Hospital continue to be restored, more than two years after its initial closure. But the hospital now faces new challenges as Republicans in Congress push a funding bill that includes large cuts to Medicaid.
Madera Community Hospital is the only general hospital in the county and serves over 175,000 residents in Madera and surrounding counties. Since it officially closed in January 2023, due to financial instability, residents have had to travel to other nearby counties for procedures and emergency care.
The closure left hundreds of thousands of residents without nearby access to medical services.
Many of those rely on Medicaid – known in California as Medi-Cal – for coverage, which has long resulted in a financial challenge for the hospital. The government reimburses facilities for their treatment of patients on Medi-Cal. The payments, however, often fall short of covering the costs of care, which contributed to the hospital’s closure.
The hospital’s new owner, a private company called American Advanced Management, has reopened the facility under a new business model that leaders are optimistic can lead to more financial stability.
For instance, leaders introduced new departments, including podiatry and a cardiac catheterization lab – but don’t plan to resume labor and delivery, a notoriously expensive department, for the foreseeable future.
Still, state leaders warn any new reduction in Medicaid funding could mean further trouble, and may reverse the hospital's reopening progress.
A federal budget bill now under consideration in the Senate includes major cuts to Medicaid, including reduced payments to hospitals and new work requirements for recipients.
These changes could lead to fewer people qualifying for coverage and, in turn, less funding for hospitals like Madera's.
Lawmakers including Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, who recently attended a ribbon cutting ceremony at Madera Community Hospital, warn that the consequences of losing support federally could reverberate throughout the entire region.
“We're hoping that as this proposal is moving through the Senate, that common sense prevails and that they realize that healthcare is an investment in the future of vulnerable communities,” Soria said.
Efforts to rescue Madera Community Hospital began before it went bankrupt. In 2022, California Senator Anna Caballero and Assemblymember Frank Bigelow had initially secured $5 million in state funding to help the hospital get by.
But that wasn’t enough to avoid its closure, which was announced suddenly in December 2022.
Caballero later worked with Soria to establish the “Distressed Hospital Loan Program” at the state legislature to help struggling hospitals in the state, with the Madera County hospital being one of the first to get funding.
Caballero said the presence of a hospital in rural areas such as Madera is a necessity. Hospital administrators say they are doing everything they can to move forward with the restoration, but support from federal and state governments is crucial.
“The hospital is like a piece of the healthcare puzzle,” Caballero said. “And in order for people to feel confident that when they need services they're available, The hospital has to be open.”
