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Ground Level Blog

Join the rural health care conversation: Virginia and the public hospital dilemma

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Sometimes a larger problem can be best discussed by looking at a single example.

Take the issue of health care in rural areas of Minnesota. We know that changes to Minnesota's General Assistance Medical Care program hit health providers in greater Minnesota especially hard. Some low-income patients in rural settings have had to travel hours to the Twin Cities for care (MPR held a discussion on this topic last summer at our Insight Nowwebsite).

And that's pressing down on hospitals in these more rural settings. Places like Paynesville and Arcadia, Wisconsin (just east of the Minnesota border).

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Then there is the city-owned hospital in Virginia. The Virginia Regional Medical Center has been losing money and is struggling to survive. Leaders there are studying the possibility of merging with another facility or being sold. They also have had a tough time attracting qualified doctors to work there.

It's not just a Virginia issue ... but looking at what that community sees as challenges -- and as potential solutions -- can inform rural health care discussions across Minnesota.

Minnesota Public Radio is teaming up with Hometown Focus, a newspaper and website in the Virginia area, to host an online forum about the hospital and the state of rural health care providers at noon on Friday, January 28.

Who should join the conversation? Of course, those from the Virginia region. But also those who live in greater Minnesota, those who have an understanding of the health care system, those who have experience in health care issues.

Let us know that you would like to join by clicking here.

(Photo from Fox21online story dated 10/12/10, photojournalist Adam Jagunich)