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The problems Cooper County Memorial Hospital in Boonville faces — such as customers failing to provide compensation on time or traveling to hospitals in larger markets for care — are common issues among rural Missouri hospitals in the recession.
A report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services examines the issues faced in rural health care, which include patients’ lack of employee-sponsored health care benefits, a lack of psychiatrists and specialist doctors, and overall worse health and higher povery rates than in the general population.
Cooper County hospital Chief Executive Allen Waldo has worked at a number of rural hospitals throughout Missouri and said the issues he faced at Barton County Memorial Hospital in Lamar most closely resemble the Boonville hospital. He said the hospital had to counter the issue of area residents traveling to Joplin for care, similar to what the Cooper County hospital faces with nearby Columbia.
Lisa Church, marketing director of Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia, said she thinks patients have a false notion that they will receive better care at a larger hospital.
The problems Cooper County Memorial Hospital in Boonville faces — such as customers failing to provide compensation on time or traveling to hospitals in larger markets for care — are common issues among rural Missouri hospitals in the recession.
A report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services examines the issues faced in rural health care, which include patients’ lack of employee-sponsored health care benefits, a lack of psychiatrists and specialist doctors, and overall worse health and higher povery rates than in the general population.
Cooper County hospital Chief Executive Allen Waldo has worked at a number of rural hospitals throughout Missouri and said the issues he faced at Barton County Memorial Hospital in Lamar most closely resemble the Boonville hospital. He said the hospital had to counter the issue of area residents traveling to Joplin for care, similar to what the Cooper County hospital faces with nearby Columbia.
Lisa Church, marketing director of Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia, said she thinks patients have a false notion that they will receive better care at a larger hospital.
