KEVIN RAUCH/EXPRESS FILE PHOTO Bucktail Medical Center is shown in this file photo. The hospital has announced that it will be contracting directly with physicians and billing for the services they provide.
SOUTH RENOVO — Bucktail Medical Center has taken a significant step toward reshaping itself as a rural, critical-care access hospital.
The hospital — which also operates a nursing home on its campus along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River here — has announced it is now contracting directly with its physicians, instead of using and paying an outside agency that directed physicians to BMC and billed the institution for their services.
“Instead of paying an agency for the physicians and letting them bill for the physician services, we are contracting directly with each physician, and we are billing for the services they provide. With this change, you will now receive one bill that includes the hospital fee and the physician fee,” BMC CEO Timothy Reeves told The Express in a prepared statement. “This cost-effective change allows us to set lower fees for the services we provide in our ER, which will result in more reasonable charges on your bills. Same physicians, same service, lower cost, one bill.”
Reeves said when he came to BMC some eight years ago “we realized there were a lot of services that were outsourced.”
“We corrected most of that early on, but physician services remained. The reason it was an obstacle is that the agency, in our 2012 agreement, said if we wanted to contract with a physician, we had to buy out their contract. That cost upward of $40,000.
“The agency we were using had some internal changes and wanted to renegotiate the agreement. We no longer use the agency.
“They collected all the money from physician services, plus we paid them a monthly fee. Now we can bill for both technical fees and professional service fees in one bill so patients no longer will receive two bills — one from the hospital and one from the doctor.
“Moreover, we can now set the rates for services provided in the ER. We’re setting our charges to be more reasonable so the number more reflects the services we provide,” Reeves explained.
Bucktail currently contracts with four physicians, Reeves said, but he expects to see two or three more in the future.
The hospital and nursing home employ around 80 people.
BMC has challenges with finances and staffing, like most health-care institutions.
BMC is a 43-bed skilled nursing facility (SNF), 16-bed critical access hospital (CAH), community Rural Health Clinic (RHC), with basic life support ambulance service.
Located in the middle of Pennsylvania’s northern tier and within the Pennsylvania Wilds, BMC likely is the most remote health care facility in the state.
The hospital dates back to 1909 as Renovo Hospital. In 1979 the facility was moved across the river to South Renovo when the SNF was added to the hospital and renamed The Bucktail Medical Center.
BMC has always struggled financially: In 2015 the facility filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 reorganization.
The hospital emerged from Chapter 11 in 2018. “Healthcare, especially recently, is a rapidly changing industry. Here in Renovo, Bucktail Medical Center has successfully endured many challenges. Our commitment to the community, however, remains the central focus of our efforts. BMC recently launched an initiative to reshape the organization to meet the healthcare needs of western Clinton County,” he said.
“Our dedicated physicians are essential to our success. Since 2012 an agency has provided our physicians and, as a result, the agency has also billed for the services the physicians provide. Many times we’ve heard that the charges seem quite high, and that receiving one bill from the hospital and another for the physician can be confusing.”
“BMC’s Board of Directors and administration are working hard to assess, and provide for, the health needs of our communities and we are taking the steps necessary to be a medical center everyone is proud to support. This important first step allows us to introduce new initiatives and services that promote a healthy community. But this is just the first step. We are actively planning and will have more exciting news soon,” Reeves also announced.
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