Salem Township Hospital CEO James Timpe feels the hospital is on good financial footing entering a time of change.
One area he is watching is Medicaid that assists the low income with medical expenses.
“For Salem Hospital, we’ll still be okay,” Timpe said. “Currently, Illinois is an expansion state for Medicaid. If the federal money is pulled back, we’re confident that the state of Illinois would continue to provide Medicaid to the expanded group, but if for some reason they did not then that would impact all hospitals in Illinois. We already give charity care and those kinds of things, so we’re able to weather that storm, but with the number of hospitals that are critical for funding, that could impact other hospitals severely.”
So far this fiscal year, Salem Hospital has provided $454,000 in charity care, including $130,000 in January alone.
Timpe says there are other concerns as well.
“We’re definitely worried about tariffs and how that might impact supplies and the costs of things, but a lot of our supplies do come from the United States, which is great. You never know, you know what I mean? When there’s a new administration, you never know what you’re going to get.”
A recent study showed 46-percent of rural hospitals around the country have negative margins and are at greater risk.
