Critical-access and other rural hospitals may have been largely left out of the healthcare reform law passed last year, but executives for those hospitals should still pay attention to the law's major provisions, said Tim Wolters, director of reimbursement for Citizens Memorial Healthcare, Bolivar, Mo., speaking today at the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Annual National Institute, in Orlando, Fla.

The federal government's goals of hospitals and doctors providing accountable care and being reimbursed under value-based purchasing programs are likely to be extended to the rural provider segment down the line, even though rural providers are not part of current federal efforts, for the most part, Wolters said.

One avenue for the possible creation of rural accountable care organizations and other rural provider experimentation would be through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, a creation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Wolters said. “Hospitals may or may not see a benefit from healthcare reform,” depending on a number of factors, including such things as their payer mix and state Medicaid program, he said.

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