Geary Community Hospital hosted U.S. Senator Jerry Moran Friday morning for a short tour and meeting with the hospitals Administrative staff.

Senator Moran met with Dr. Joseph Stratton, GCH CEO, and Gary Drake, Chairman of the GCH Board of Trustees. In that meeting Moran said they discussed multiple topics.

“One of the things we want to pay attention to is to make certain that Geary Community Hospital has the opportunity to provide the services that it is so capable of providing to the largest number of people that want the services here,” Moran said.

The meeting also included a discussion on the increasing number of regulations that are creating more of a burden on rural hospitals.

One of those burdens is due to the Affordable Care Act which increases the difficulties hospitals face in their revenues.

“There is a program that this hospital has currently available to them. They receive an additional reimbursement based upon the size of their hospital, an additional reimbursement for medicare.”

The conversation that they had focused on the possibility of extending the time that those additional reimbursements are available to the hospital.

Senator Moran also said that he will be having discussions with both the Department of the Army and Department of Defense.

“To make sure that services that can be provided at this community hospital are available for those who would receive care elsewhere. We want to make sure that the community hospital does not get left behind in the conversations about the scope and nature of what is going to happen at the new hospital at Fort Riley.”

Following his meeting Moran took a tour of GCH and said that the hospital’s appearance was, “absolutely fantastic.”

“While that’s important and useful, what I really saw was the latest technology, caring staff, people caring for patients. That’s what you would want in a community hospital. It’s one of the great things about places that we all come from, if we can access healthcare with people who are our neighbors, who know us, who care about us, that’s an awfully good thing.”