By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Fort Madison — Great River Medical Center in West Burlington and Fort Madison Community Hospital will become one hospital with two locations Thursday, July 1.
The new name will be Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center.
To mark the change, there will be two ribbon-cutting ceremonies Tuesday, June 29 at 9 a.m. at the Great River Medical Center main entrance and at 11:30 am in Ft. Madison.
In December 2020, Great River Health, which operates the hospitals, announced it would apply to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for Sole Community Hospital (SCH) classification in July.
The SCH program was created to maintain access to needed health services for Medicare beneficiaries in rural communities by providing greater reimbursement.
Hospitals must meet specific criteria for SCH classification, including distance from other hospitals.
To meet the proximity requirement, Great River Medical Center and Fort Madison Community Hospital will become one hospital with two campuses.