Scottsboro, Alabama - March 2, 2020 - Rural Health Care in Alabama, Another Hospital Closing - Jackson County Health Care Authority, Records Request for Profit and Loss Statement - UPDATE - March 2019 Profit and Loss Statement

Highlands Medical Center and the Jackson County Health Care Authority, Scottsboro, Al. 

photo by G.Morgan

(There have been 4 typos/grammar corrections, edited, in this article including the date of the records request mentioned in the story body.)

UPDATE - Bottom of Page - March 2019 Profit and Loss Statement..

RECORDS REQUEST

More Rural Hospitals Closing in Alabama

Rural Health Care is critical to the citizen’s health in poor and sparsely populated areas across the state and nation. The failure of rural health care in Alabama is due to the number of patients who can't pay the costs of treatment. The Republican Party in Alabama does not support MEDICAID Expansion under the Affordable Care Act, financial help for the poor in Alabama. Financial Disclosure regarding our local hospital, clinics and the health care authority to local citizens is also problematic. Case in point, The Jackson County Healthcare Authority.

Reference this article regarding rural health care in Alabama:   https://www.al.com/business/2020/03/another-rural-alabama-hospital-is-closing.html?

A records request for the last Profit and Loss Statement for the 2020 Fiscal Year, which is the first quarter, October-December 2019, for the Jackson County Health Care Authority (JCHCA) was submitted on February 27, 2020, hand delivered to the CEO, John Anderson, of the JCHCA. This report should be readily available to the public as this is a public government hospital and Alabama Open Records Laws are applicable regarding this type of documentation for government public health care facilities.

The profit and loss statement for the JCHCA was requested due to several statements from local health care workers at the JCHCA that they had been briefed in a department meeting that Highlands Medical Center was $30 million dollars in debt. I contacted the media relations point of contact at Highlands for confirmation of this allegation; I was told there has been no release of this type of information, re- $30 million dollars in losses. The requested information, per the records request, has not been provided as of this date.

The JCHCA has had financial difficulties within the past 5 years which reflected a negative balance in their profit and loss statement. However, improvements have been made within the past 2 years.

Our hospital and its' governing authority should have no problem in releasing an accurate annual profit and loss statement describing the financial status of our local rural health care authority each year. After all, this is our hospital at this time, it is not a privately owned health care facility.

Looking back 4 years relating to the Jackson County Health Care Authority's Financial problems: https://arklite.blogspot.com/search/label/Jackson%20County%20Health%20Care%20Authority

Highlands Medical Center Website, scroll down to "Anderson Named New CEO":   https://www.highlandsmedcenter.com/www

UPDATE - March 2019 Profit and Loss Statement for the Jackson County Health Care Authority (sums in parenthesis are losses.) Click on image to expand.