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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Some Rural Montana Hospitals Struggle To Survive

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Tuesday, May 31, 2016   

ENNIS, Mont. - Rural hospitals are the backbone of many small communities and experts say quite a few are in danger of closing if the government cuts reimbursements any further.

That's one of the main topics at the Rural Health Summit today in the town of Ennis, southwest of Bozeman.

Senator Jon Tester has invited decision-makers from multiple agencies in Washington, D.C., to meet with executives from Montana's rural hospitals to discuss the challenges they face.

Dick Brown is president and CEO of the Montana Hospital Association.

"There are a number of hospitals in this state that are in the balance. They are, month to month, trying to make things work," says Brown. "And with the pressure of payment reform, delivery system reform, aging population, lack of population, they're struggling with a lot of different issues."

Montana has 48 critical-access hospitals in small towns, serving about 450,000 people, which is 44 percent of the total population.

Many hospitals would like to see more federal funding for telemedicine, which would allow specialists in larger communities to treat patients in rural areas.

Brown says the biggest threat to rural hospitals is the specter of additional cuts to federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and to systems run by Indian Health and the Veteran's Administration.

"Whenever there's a change at the federal level, it seems health care has a target on its back; that there's an easy way to take a few more cuts out of their payment," he says. "And these small communities cannot afford any cuts so, we really need to end that part of the conversation."

He says supporters of rural hospitals are also pressing for improvements in federal programs to attract more physicians and nurses to work in small-town hospitals.


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