Claxton-Hepburn to host forum on critical access transition
Jan. 6—OGDENSBURG — Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center and Carthage Area Hospital, part of the new North Star Health Alliance, will be holding a community forum to discuss the hospital's transition to a critical access and standalone mental health facility.
Claxton-Hepburn was recently approved by the state Department of Health in its first steps to become a critical access hospital, a federal designation that is created for rural hospitals to ensure the delivery of quality care while allowing for greater financial stability through higher reimbursement rates.
Claxton-Hepburn is inviting the community to a forum from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, at the Ogdensburg Elks Lodge, 332 Caroline St.
Light refreshments will be served.
In June, Carthage Area Hospital and Claxton-Hepburn announced that a Certificate of Need had been submitted to DOH in order to create a 25-bed critical access hospital and a standalone mental health facility and to reorganize into the now called North Star Health Alliance.
The first steps of the transition concerns the hospital's outpatient services, shifting the management of rural health clinics in Ogdensburg, Canton, Madrid, Hammond and Waddington to management under Carthage Area Hospital through the North Star Health Alliance.
In a previous news release, Claxton-Hepburn announced that there will be no "interruption or reduction in the range of services offered."
Claxton-Hepburn CEO Rich Duvall stated that the approval of the initial phase of transition to a critical access hospital was a pivotal step.
"It's crucial in helping us meet our three core objectives: preserving our range of services, safeguarding jobs, and ensuring the honor of Claxton-Hepburn's employee pensions," stated Duvall.
In a previous interview, Duvall that the change in reimbursement rates as a critical access hospital would bring in $7 million to $10 million a year in increased revenues, giving it financial stability.
As a critical access hospital, it would only be able to hold 25 acute care beds, down from the 87 it currently has. The proposal calls for 10-bed observation unit and a reduction of its maternity unit from 8 to 2 beds and its ICU unit from 10 to 6 beds.
Claxton-Hepburn itself will become a standalone behavioral health hospital with 40 beds.
The change to a critical access hospital was unanimously approved by Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center's Board of Directors.
