DORGAN CALLS AGREEMENT BETWEEN DICKINSON AND RICHARDTON HOSPITALS A WELCOME BREAKTHROUGH
Senator says deal preserves good access to health care for residents of both communities
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
CONTACT: Justin Kitsch
or Brenden Timpe
PHONE: 202-224-2551
(BISMARCK, N.D.) – U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said Wednesday that the agreement reached between hospitals in Dickinson and Richardton, N.D., will ensure residents of both communities will retain access to high-quality health care.
Dorgan, Senator Kent Conrad and Congressman Earl Pomeroy convened a task force aimed at finding an agreement between the Dickinson and Richardton hospitals. Under the agreement, Richardton’s hospital will give up its federal “Critical Access Hospital” designation and convert to a skilled-nursing facility. That will allow St. Joseph’s Hospital in Dickinson to become a Critical Access Hospital. Under federal law, the designation cannot be given to a facility within 35 miles of another Critical Access Hospital.
Dorgan, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also included $850,000 in federal funding in a pending appropriations bill to help Richardton Memorial Hospital and Health Center transition to its new status.
“This agreement is a significant step forward in our effort to ensure the residents of both Dickinson and Richardton maintain access to quality health care,” Dorgan said. “Dickinson in one of our state’s major cities. It has a first-rate hospital and we must do everything we can to keep it running. But any solution had to make sense for the residents of Richardton, too. That’s why this deal is so important. I’m very encouraged by this breakthrough and I’ll continue working with all parties involved to make sure our health care facilities in western North Dakota are in good shape.”
—END—