Local Hospital Defined as "At-Risk" of Closing Due to Medicaid Cuts in Federal Bill

Thursday, July 10th, 2025 -- 8:00 AM

(Tom Ackerman & Lynne Fort, Springfield State Journal - Register) Three rural hospitals in Wisconsin are defined as "at-risk" of closing, according to a reputable center for health services research.

According to Tom Ackerman & Lynne Fort with the Springfield State Journal - Register, the list of the rural hospitals from each state was released after U.S. senators requested the information from the center and then attached it in a letter to President Donald Trump, among others.

A rural hospital is labeled as at risk when it meets one or both of two criteria, according to the documents: the hospital is in the top 10% Medicaid payer mix of rural hospitals across the country, and that the hospital has experienced three consecutive years of negative total margin.

Here are the three hospitals deemed at-risk in Wisconsin:

• Holy Family Memorial
• MCHS Oakridge
• Aspirus Stanley Hospital

The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research is part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The center, according to their site, seeks to improve the health of individuals, families, and populations by understanding the problems, issues, and alternatives in the design and delivery of health care services.

U.S. Sens Edward J. Markey, Ron Wyden, Jeffrey A. Merkley, and Charles E. Schumer wrote to President Trump, Majority Leader John Thune, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson in response to the reconciliation package that ultimately Trump signed on the Fourth of July. They sent the letter on June 12. The senators argued that the health care cuts could impact vulnerable, rural hospitals.

"Enacting these drastic health care cuts that will kick millions of people off their health insurance coverage, rural hospitals will not get paid for the services they are required by law to provide to patients," authors wrote, adding that the hospitals will face "deeper financial strain that could lead to negative health outcomes for the communities they serve."

The bill, now signed into law, is projected to cut $1 trillion mostly from Medicaid and Affordable Care Act insurance plans and eliminate insurance coverage for 11.8 million people over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, as reported by USA Today.

About one in five Wisconsinites are covered by Medicaid.

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