telehealth Archives - Missourinet

Rural hospital closings getting attention from both candidates in southern Missouri congressional race (AUDIO)

October 28, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Health care has emerged as a major issue in southern Missouri’s Eighth Congressional district race between U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (R-Salem) and his Democratic challenger Kathy Ellis.

The sprawling district includes 30 southern Missouri counties and about 20,000 square miles. It stretches from Jefferson County, south of St. Louis, all the way to the Bootheel. It also includes southern Missouri towns like West Plains, Ava, and St. James. The district hasn’t sent a Democrat to Washington since Congressman Bill Burlison, who served from 1969 to 1981.

The Eighth Congressional district has seen five hospital closings since 2016:

** Parkland Health Center in Farmington (2016)
** Southeast Health Center of Reynolds County in Ellington (2016)
** Southeast Health Center of Ripley County in Doniphan (2018)
** Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center in Kennett (2018)
** Black River Medical Center in Poplar Bluff (2019)

Ellis, a social worker who lives in Festus, supports Medicaid expansion and says federally qualified health centers must be expanded in southeast Missouri.

“So that they’re delivering primary care, behavioral health, dental, OBGYN, everything that the area needs,” Ellis says.

As for Congressman Smith, he says Medicaid expansion is a state issue. He has described the hospital closings as “unacceptable” several times, during interviews with Missourinet. He notes that people die when hospitals close, noting that rural hospital closures are associated with an increase in an area’s mortality rate.

But Smith says attention hasn’t been given to the hospitals he’s worked to save, like the Iron County Medical Center in Pilot Knob. Smith tells Missourinet the facility was days away from closing, and that he and U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R) worked with the hospital administrator to keep it open.

Smith also says that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he immediately got hospital administrators, local health clinics and doctors on the phone, and brought their needs to the president. He notes he successfully urged the Trump Administration this year to reverse its earlier rule requiring telehealth to have audio and video, saying that’s been huge for the district, which has major issues with lack of rural broadband and cell service.

“And so working with the president (Donald Trump), I was able to get him to do an executive order to rescind it, that they could do telehealth by just audio. It didn’t have to be audio and visual,” Smith says.

Congressman Smith also filed legislation in July called the “Saving Rural Hospitals from Closure Act,” which would keep rural hospitals open by allowing the HHS Secretary to give hospitals flexibility to remain financially viable.

The two candidates agree that access to quality health care is critical in southeast Missouri, and that the district needs every hospital and rural clinic in it.

They also agree on the need for improved rural broadband in the district.

As for Ms. Ellis, she reiterates that health care is the top priority for residents in the district. She notes it’s impoverished and that some southeast Missourians must drive two hours for health care.

“We have huge infant/mother mortality rates in the Bootheel and we have fully one-third of the 16 counties surrounding the Bootheel where children don’t have enough to eat on the weekends,” says Ellis.

She says her priorities are the priorities of district residents, and that it’s time to have a representative who listens to the people.

During her interview with Missourinet, she notes that many southeast Missouri Republicans have run unopposed for state legislative seats during recent years.

She says there’s not been a lot of energy from the Missouri Democratic Party, for southeast Missouri and other rural areas. She says that’s happened around the nation as well.

But Ellis emphasizes that elections are won and lost in rural areas, and that Democrats must focus on rural America. She says winning can take multiple election cycles, and says young voters in her district are energized.

Ellis put 75,000 miles on her car in 2018, when she faced Smith. Smith won with about 73 percent of the vote, getting 194,042 votes to Ellis’ 66,151 votes.

Congressman Smith describes the district as “God’s Country.” It includes the Mississippi Delta and the Ozark Hills. He says his priority is to represent his constituents.

“That is to make sure our rural Missouri values has a strong voice and is represented in Washington D.C. Those values include limited government, freedom, lower taxes,” says Smith.

Smith says the tax cut signed by President Trump should be made permanent, along with doubling the child tax credit.

He also says the 2020 election is not just about the next two or four years, it’s about the next 50 years.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, which was recorded on October 26, 2020:

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Democrat Kathy Ellis of Festus, which was recorded on October 26, 2020:

Missouri announces $50 million program for broadband expansion, including telehealth

July 2, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor announced a $50 million dollar project to expand broadband across the state, during a Thursday media briefing at the Statehouse in Jefferson City.

Missouri Department of Economic Development Director Rob Dixon (left) and state broadband development office director Tim Arbeiter brief Capitol reporters on July 2, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

The expansion will include support for telehealth and libraries. Governor Mike Parson says the money will come from federal CARES Act funding. He says broadband is critical for Missourians.

“The digital divide in rural Missouri limits growth in many sectors of our economy, including education, workforce development, health care, business retention and attractions, just to name a few,” Parson says.

Parson says the project earmarks $20 million to establish a reimbursement program for broadband providers, to assist them with construction costs for new broadband expansion to households with students or vulnerable populations.

The governor was joined at the briefing by state Department of Economic Development (DED) Director Rob Dixon and state broadband development office director Tim Arbeiter. Arbeiter’s office is within DED.

Director Dixon says the project to expand broadband will help thousands of Missourians go to school, work and to the doctor. He tells Capitol reporters that today, “broadband internet is the backbone of a resilient economy.”

“Some 300,000 households, 195,000 k-12 students and 54,000 businesses and farms lack high-speed internet access,” says Dixon.

Under the project, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) will provide $10 million to local education agencies, to seek reimbursement for eligible costs to increase student connectivity.

Arbeiter says the project will also provide $5.25 million for telehealth.

“It was estimated just over 90,000 Missouri citizens could not access medical care during this time. It’s a continued issue that, again as we faced with the pandemic, facilities closed down,” Arbeiter says.

The $5.25 million will support connectivity for telehealth services for vulnerable populations. The state will partner with the Missouri Telehealth Network at Mizzou to secure about 12,000 hotspots for the state’s 29 federally qualified health centers and the 26 community mental health centers.

Governor Parson traveled to mid-Missouri’s Tipton earlier in the day, to sign legislation extending Missouri’s broadband grant program through 2027. Missouri’s broadband internet grant program is for unserved and underserved areas in the state.