Tag: rural hospitals

      A plan to bolster Missouri’s rural hospitals’ financially stability is one of the measures awaiting action from the governor after the close of the legislative session earlier this month.

      The proposal from Representative Tara Peters (R-Rolla) would expand the authority of rural hospital boards to invest funds that aren’t used for immediate obligations or hospital operations. 

      It was one of several measures she proposed this year aimed at supporting rural healthcare.   

      “We have small, rural hospitals closing all over the state.  This was an opportunity for them to expand that so they can use more of that money on other investment opportunities so they can get more money back, to stay afloat.”

      “It’s very important for our smaller hospitals in districts like mine to stay open so that we can provide great healthcare for the State of Missouri,” Peters said. “This is just one tool to allow them to stop operating in the red.”

      Peters said for many years rural hospitals have been barred from investing non-operating funds.

      “It was explained to me that it was put in the statute a long time ago because one hospital, I guess, had invested all of its money, 100 percent of it, in pork bellies, and at that time all the pork bellies went under and they lost all their money, so there were limitations put on the percentage of the amount of money that hospitals could invest, to not lose it all,” said Peters.

      The hospitals had been asking for full spending authority, but that wasn’t feasible to House lawmakers. 

      “They didn’t get everything they wanted.  Obviously they would have liked the opportunity to have 100 percent but the committee who heard that negotiated, and this is allowing them to take 15 percent to do a variety of stocks, bonds, and money market investments.  It’s not 100 percent but it’s a lot more than what the state statute was allowing them to do in the first place.  I’m hoping that by doing that they can recoup some of that money and hopefully get some gains, and use that money to keep in operation.”

      Peters said there was good reason for the prohibition on investing that was put in place, but with the passage of time and with rural hospitals struggling to stay in operation, that law was out of date.

      “We need to make sure that our state’s statutes are actually supporting the causes of our local hospitals, and any entity, so that we can operate to the full extent, so again that we can benefit Missourians and not operate in archaic times where the state statutes aren’t really benefitting out establishments.”

      The language was sent to the governor as part of Senate Bill 1359.  He can choose to sign it into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without taking any action.