Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is co-sponsoring a bill designed to help keep rural hospitals open. Aaron Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, says his group backs the legislation which would create a new “rural emergency hospital” classification under Medicare.

“Rural hospitals are so important to us because they provide trauma services and emergency room services that you can’t replicate,” Lehman says. “We need to do whatever we can to help them make ends meet. By making some simple changes to Medicare, we think that’s a great way to start.”

Lehman says the bill takes on added importance because farming is one of the most lethal occupations. “We know there are risks out there in rural Iowa and rural America and farmers are doing their best to change that,” he says, “but we know there’s a long ways to go and we need to be able to access those trauma services.” A study finds 60-percent of trauma deaths in the U-S occur in rural areas where only 15-percent of the population lives.

Lehman says that’s another big reason to pass the legislation. “If you look at the statistics, the number of injuries due to trauma are significantly higher in rural America,” Lehman says. “It’s very important to our folks out there in rural Iowa and across rural America.”

Under Medicare, many rural hospitals are designated as “critical access hospitals,” meaning, they’re required to maintain a certain amount of inpatient beds as well as an emergency room. However, they’re struggling to attract enough inpatients to keep that status.

(Radio Iowa)