As the city's only hospital considers reducing its number of beds to get more money reimbursed for the Medicare patients it serves, officials at two other hospitals that took a similar path believe with the proper planning such a transition can work. </p><p>The board of directors at Memorial Hospital Los Ba&#241;os is contemplating cutting the number of beds at its facility from 48 to 25. With the lesser number of beds the facility can qualify as a critical access hospital, allowing Memorial to be reimbursed for Medicare patients at a rate of 101 percent. </p><p>Memorial Hospital Los Ba&#241;os officials say the move may be necessary to assist in improving the facility's financial condition. The hospital has reportedly lost $10 million in the past three years and is estimating a $2 million deficit by the end of the current calendar year.</p><p>The federal government reserved the label of critical access hospital for rural medical facilities to help close the funding gap between them and their urban counterparts. </p><p>In Mariposa John C. Fremont Hospital was granted critical access status in 2004.</p><p>"We're still struggling, but what we've found is that it increased our Medicare reimbursement," Fremont Hospital spokeswoman Maureen Spacke said. </p><p>She said the only real downside to becoming a critical access hospital is the cumbersome survey process conducted by the state and federal governments during the application period. </p><p>John C. Fremont Hospital has 34 beds, 10 in its nursing area and 24 in its main facility. Spacke said for the size of the community the hospital serves, the number of beds is not an issue.</p><p>"There can be a problem if you're looking at a disaster situation," she said. "If there's a pandemic, all bets are off."</p><p>However under normal circumstances, Spacke said, patients who have needs the hospital cannot meet are transferred to other facilities. </p><p>At the Mariposa facility hospital stays on average are limited to three days, according to Spacke. One of the conditions of a critical access hospital is that beds are occupied for an average of no more than four days. Officials at Memorial Hospital Los Ba&#241;os said patients at the facility currently average a far less amount of time in the facility than the 96 hours allowed. </p><p>At Mercy Medical Center in Mount Shasta, Vice President of Patient Care Services Morris Eagleman said the designation has been good for his hospital.</p><p>"It helped us in our county," Eagleman said. "The only disadvantage is your reimbursement is capped. You have to remember with any critical access hospital you don't get a lot of money. You get your cost back plus $1."</p><p>Mercey Medical Center has 21 beds and a large population on Medicare. </p><p>Eagleman said the critical access hospital label would not be beneficial to a facility with a large amount of patients with private insurance. He said hospital boards have to figure out how many Medicare patients their facilities are serving before a decision can be made responsibly.</p><p><i>Enterprise reporter Corey Pride can be reached at 388-6563 or at cpride@losbanosenterprise.com.</i>