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Jackson Hospital - TPR's In Focus - June 26, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park on the main campus of Troy University,
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  featuring the International Arts Center, the Fred Nall Hollis Museum, and the Hua Bao Zhu Gallery.
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  More information at troy.edu slash arts park.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is the News Wrap and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  Montgomery's Jackson Hospital has struggled to survive and Todd Stacy, host of APT's Capital
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  Journal, joins us with the latest. And Todd has a wild card that floats.
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  Todd, welcome back and what's the latest with Jackson Hospital?
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  They are still saying that permanent closure could happen as soon as next week. Obviously,
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  that would be just a huge blow to Montgomery, to the river region, really to the state,
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  considering it is the closest hospital to downtown, to the capital complex.
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  They've been in financial trouble for years. They were bought out by this investment group.
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  There's been this effort to try to save them. You've seen the state come in with $40 million,
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  the city come in with 20, the counties come in with some. But all that is contingent on
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  them emerging from bankruptcy. And complicating that is their lawsuit with Blue Cross and Blue
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  Shield of Alabama. They're saying Blue Cross needs to increase the rate at which we are
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  reimbursed for our medical expenses, similar to how they reimbursed higher tech hospitals
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  like Baptist South. Why are the reimbursement rates higher for Baptist than Jackson Hospital?
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  It's all about the scope of services. So Baptist South is a tier one trauma hospital. It's the
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  only one we have around here. They treat a way higher level of patients. If you get shot or if
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  you have major surgery, you're going to Baptist South because they have the capabilities to treat
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  that. So if those kinds of hospitals get a different reimbursement rate because those
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  services are different and higher value than Jackson, that's pretty typical throughout the
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  insurance industry. While Blue Cross has increased their reimbursement to Jackson Hospital to try to
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  help out and prevent them from closing, what Blue Cross has been saying is their obligation is to
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  their members, their customers basically, and to keep their rates down. Because to give Jackson
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  Hospital more money is to increase what their customers have to pay. The bankruptcy judge
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  basically dismissed Jackson's motion, wouldn't buy in this whole blame game that it's all the
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  insurance company's fault. So unless this investment group wants to come in and invest more money,
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  it's interesting because the person who ultimately owns this is a guy named Rick Jackson, who just
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  won the Republican nomination for governor of Georgia. But he just spent about one hundred
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  million dollars of his own money running for governor of Georgia. So just talking with those
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  in the medical community, it's looking pretty dire. I don't see a way out for Jackson Hospital.
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  So let's leave this on the table for now. Do you have a wild card? Just in time for the fourth of
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  July, up there on Weiss Lake, they have this what they're calling a Weiss cream boat. This flatbed
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  boat has been outfitted to look just like an ice cream truck. You know, they all grew up hearing
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  the music from the ice cream truck. Well, they figured out how to do this on the lake. You can
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  get your ice cream, get your snow cone. So I just think that's really cute. So go to BamaBuzz.com
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  and you can see this Weiss cream boat up there on Weiss Lake. Who doesn't love a cool treat while
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  they're out on the water? Todd, in addition to Capitol Journal, you're hosting a big celebration.
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  All right. So Capitol Journal is tonight. We're going to be going through some of the news we
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  just talked about, but we'll actually be off the air next week. There's a big celebration planned
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  up there at the American Village in Montevallo, historical replicas. They've got this huge
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  event called Sweet Home 250. They're going to have live performances and we're broadcasting
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  all of that live on Alabama Public Television starting at 6 30. And of course, that will all
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  end with a big firework show. So I'll be up there in Montevallo. So I hope you'll join us. It'll be
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  a lot of fun on PBS. We will tune in. Meanwhile, thanks for the news wrap, Todd. You bet. Joining
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  us for the news wrap was Todd Stacy, host of Alabama Public Television's Capitol Journal,
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  tonight at 7 30 and Sunday at noon and on YouTube. More information can be found at the
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  aptv.org website. Thanks for joining us for In Focus, which is a podcast wherever you get your
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  podcasts. I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener supported Troy Public Radio.