HOLLIS —With a population of a little over 2,000, Hollis — the county seat of Harmon County and the largest community within this corner of Southwest Oklahoma —recently came close to losing its only hospital — Harmon Memorial Hospital.
Thanks to intervention of members of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation, the Hollis-based hospital has been given at least a two-year reprieve due to the vital services it provides the rural corner of the state.
As recently as 2016, HMH became a Critical Access Hospital. However, that status was revoked by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services two years ago, jeopardizing the hospital’s future.
In a recent statement, U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Cheyenne, OK), was emphatic that rural hospitals in his congressional district and other parts of rural Oklahoma remain open to serve the community. Due to Lucas’s efforts, and those of other Oklahoma congress members in Washington, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave Harmon Memorial Hospital a two-year extension.
“It’s important that we keep Oklahoma’s rural hospitals open and operational,” said Lucas, who represents Oklahoma’s Third Congressional District.
Lucas, and others within the Oklahoma congressional delegation, say they are working diligently to save rural hospitals from closing, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect communities large and small.
Since 2005, nine rural Oklahoma hospitals have been shuttered.
In a statement to Southwest Ledger, Lucas – along with U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Tulsa) and James Lankford (R-Oklahoma City) – discussed the Harmon Oklahoma Act, “a bill that would ensure Harmon Memorial Hospital … can remain open.”
“As more and more rural hospitals across the country close their doors, it’s important that we keep Oklahoma’s rural hospitals open and operational,” said Lucas. “As a critical access hospital, Harmon Memorial Hospital in Hollis, Oklahoma provides crucial care to its community and to the people who call Southwest Oklahoma home.”
Lucas said that while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have been willing to “provide flexibility and extended the hospital’s designation as a critical access hospital,” he, along with Lankford and Inhofe, via the HARMON (Helping Account for Rural Medical Outpatient Needs) Oklahoma Act, want to make sure the issue of a potential closure of Harmon Memorial Hospital does not arise again.
Critical access hospitals
Critical Access Hospital designations were created through the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 in response to the closure of several rural hospitals in the 1990’s. CAH hospitals receive certain benefits like cost-based reimbursements for Medicare services, as noted in the Rural Health Information Hub website.
Eligible hospitals must meet the following conditions to obtain CAH designation:
• Have 25 or fewer acute care inpatient beds
• Be located more than 35 miles from another hospital
• Maintain an annual average length of stay of 96 hours or less for acute care patients
• Provide 24/7 emergency care services
Serving rural Oklahoma
“Congress must pass the HARMON Oklahoma Act,” Lucas said. “Ensuring Harmon Memorial Hospital can continue to provide local health care for our communities … making sure rural communities across Southwest Oklahoma have access to the essential services Harmon Memorial provides.”
Echoing Lucas’s sentiments, Inhofe said Harmon Memorial Hospital “needs to be able to keep its doors open to serve the community.”
“While the extension secured in June due to the public health emergency will give the hospital some peace of mind, the HARMON (Oklahoma) Act will solidify the hospital’s future,” Inhofe said. “This will ensure the essential workers that are serving the surrounding community can continue to do their work for years to come, benefitting all the folks in the area who rely on the hospital’s services.”
Lankford said that without facilities like Harmon Memorial Hospital, “people in rural communities will be forced to travel long distances in life-or-death situations.”
Lankford said that phone calls and letters sent to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services helped in granting Harmon Memorial Hospital the extension it received to keep its doors open.
“Our bill holds the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to their word by ensuring Harmon Hospital can maintain its critical access designation to prevent bureaucrats in Washington D.C. from forcing them to close their doors and hurt our neighbors in Southwest Oklahoma,” Lankford said in a statement to Southwest Ledger.
Harmon Memorial Hospital CEO Steve Hartgraves thanked the lawmakers for their continued support to keep the hospital open.
“The HARMON Oklahoma Act will allow our local healthcare professionals to continue providing valuable primary and emergency care services for people living in southwest Oklahoma as we wait for our Rural Emergency Hospital designation,” Hartgraves said.