State of Healthcare in Madison County
By Ryan Whitt
Greg D Gerard, president of Baptist Health Richmond gave a speech on April 23 about the state of healthcare affairs in Madison County and at Baptist Health.
Gerard began his speech by acknowledging the $ 880 billion in Medicaid cuts that recently passed in the House of Representatives that are expected to take place over the next decade.
According to Gerard Medicaid is a significant payer for Baptist Health Richmond, being around one third of their revenue.
He goes on to mention the 340B Program, which he says allows hospitals that serve primarily Medicare and Medicaid patients to purchase outpatient drugs at the lowest government negotiated rate.
Gerard then says that if the government makes changes to or does away with the 340B program, he expects hospitals to close. This does on the back of Senate health committee chair Bill Cassidy who said in February that he plans to introduce legislation aimed at changing the bill due to concerns of misuse.
“ Those two things frighten me, the medicaid cuts and the 340B,” said Gerard.“ It would have a devastating impact on us.” Gerard said that if those things changed, that Baptist Health may not be able to meet their goal of staying open and providing care 24 / 7.“ Rural America is in trouble from a Healthcare perspective,” said Gerard.“ They’ re already struggling, and it’ s going to get worse.” Gerard then shared that Baptist Health has been 15 above capacity for at least six months, and that it got so bad several months ago that furniture had to be removed from waiting rooms to make more room for patients. Gerard said that the hospital has stayed so busy that there are plans underway for expansion, though it is unclear at this point to the extent of that expansion.“ The growth of Madison County is just going to continue to increase that need for more beds,” said
Gerard. Despite this Gerard said that Baptist Health has one of the best registration to discharge times in the country at 155 minutes, making them one of the top 25 % fastest hospitals in the country.
Gerard added that another concern for hospitals is workplace violence, stating that the hospital added 250 surveillance cameras. Gerard added that there was a shooting in
Elizabethtown’ s hospital several months ago, and that added security is necessary even here.
Gerard said that Baptist Health will be adding gun detection technology in their Emergency Room entrance in the next
10 • Good Health Magazine 2025