Georgiana Medical Center, located in Greenville, Alabama, will close its doors on March 31. The hospital's operator, Ivy Creek of Butler, says patient care will be directed to L.V. Stabler Memorial Hospital in Greenville, as well as to other providers.

Ivy Creek and L.V. Stabler, which had operated competing home health businesses, will combine those operations under the management of Ivy Creek. The creation of this new home health organization, named Ivy Creek of Butler Home Health, will take effect over the next 90 days with no significant changes.

Georgiana Medical Center will become the 13th Alabama hospital to close in eight years, and the seventh rural hospital to close.

"The rising costs of healthcare coupled with the cuts in reimbursement have made it impractical to maintain financial viability with two hospitals operating in Butler County," Ivy Creek CEO Mike Bruce said.

"We are sad to hear of yet another hospital closing its doors and are concerned that it won't be the last," said Donald Williamson, MD, president of the Alabama Hospital Association. "Hospitals cannot continue to provide uncompensated care to thousands of uninsured Alabamians. This is compounded by the fact that our hospitals aren't receiving sufficient payment, especially from Medicare, to cover the cost of care.

"This is why it's critical that Alabama take advantage of Medicaid expansion, a move that would provide insurance to an estimated 340,000 Alabamians. With almost 90 percent of rural hospitals operating in the red, expansion is an investment in the state's health care infrastructure that we cannot afford to pass up."

For more information on Medicaid expansion, including two recent reports that provide overwhelming evidence of the benefits of expansion, visit www.alhealthmatters.com.