Hoeven Works to Retain Jamestown Regional Medical Center's Critical Access Designation

JAMESTOWN, N.D. — Senator John Hoeven today spoke with Health and Human Services (HHS) Deputy Secretary designee Mary Wakefield to help ensure that Jamestown Regional Medical Center (JRMC) retains its Critical Access Hospital designation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Recently, the North Dakota Department of Health received notice from CMS’s Denver Regional office that Jamestown Regional Medical Center’s Critical Access status may be revoked due to its close proximity to the State Hospital in Jamestown, which is not a general acute care hospital. Critical Access Hospitals must be located more than 35 miles from another hospital and provide 24/7 emergency care services, as does JRMC.

The State Hospital, however, treats patients with serious mental health illnesses or substance abuse and does not, like JRMC, provide a full range of health care services, notably emergency department services, which CMS requires for Critical Access Hospitals.

“The State Hospital in Jamestown is clearly not a general service hospital, and doesn’t provide the same range of health care services as JRMC,” Hoeven said. “I spoke with Secretary Wakefield to help us make sure that JRMC can keep its Critical Access designation and we continue working to get CMS to agree. Jamestown Regional Medical Center provides important care to this community, and this designation makes a big difference to the center’s financial reimbursement and strength.”

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