Opinion: PRMC supports Healthcare Delivery, Access Act

Our goal at Plains Regional Medical Center is to provide the care that our community needs, right here in Curry County.

We continue to expand services to serve our community, such as by recruiting additional clinicians to provide women’s care in obstetrics and gynecology.

We also continue to provide emergency and inpatient care in our 100-bed hospital, oncology care in our cancer center and primary and specialty care like cardiology, pediatrics and gastroenterology in our 12 clinics.

While we want to keep growing services and improve access for our patients, low Medicaid reimbursement remains one of our biggest obstacles.

Right now, New Mexico has the highest Medicaid enrollment in the country and the lowest reimbursement rate. What that means for us at PRMC is that Medicaid does not cover the cost of care for the services we provide to our patients.

We support efforts that can help New Mexico get more federal dollars for their Medicaid program and help fix the reimbursement crisis.

That is why PRMC is supporting the New Mexico Healthcare Delivery and Access Act, which will bring in significantly more federal funding for healthcare services to our state.

For PRMC, this additional funding would mean that we are able to:

n Expand primary and specialty care in areas like obstetrics and gynecology, behavioral health, nephrology and surgical care.

n Continue to invest in our workforce and building infrastructure.

n Expand telehealth options.

We are asking the Legislature and our local community to support this legislation to increase federal funding so that New Mexico hospitals can improve access to the care our communities need.

Bill Priest is Plains Regional Medical Center’s chief executive. Contact him at:

[email protected]