Rural Georgia hospital closing, blames Medicare

A small-town hospital in rural Georgia is closing its doors. Stewart-Webster Hospital in Richland, population 1,400, about 30 miles west of Americus, will suspend operations tomorrow.

The 25-bed hospital, named for the two rural counties it serves but owned by Accord Health Care Corp., says it is closing partly because high unemployment in the area means the hospital is seeing more people who are not paying for services. Also, "Medicaid and Medicare are not paying what they used to," and the hospital simply ran out of money, report Sydney Cameron and Liz Buckthorpe of WRBL of Columbus. And, in changing top electronic health records, "The hospital had to pay for the costs up front and because of a mix-up with Medicare they have not received $1 million in incentive money for the changeover."

Stewart-Webster is the largest employer in Richland at nearly 80 employees. The hospital sees around 10 patients a day and performs about five surgeries a week, the station reports.