This
file portion of www.watertownhistory.org
website
St. Mary’s
Hospital - Addendum
Founded and Opened in 1906
Missionary Sisters, Servants
of the Holy Ghost
Watertown Memorial Hospital
Watertown Regional Medical Center
1987 Rural
Designation
A “rural” designation cost
Watertown Memorial Hospital $877,000 in 1986, a loss the facility cannot
continue to suffer if it wants to keep its doors open, administrators say.
Officials have launched an extensive campaign to have the hospital’s designation
changed from rural to urban. The urban designation would bring in higher
Medicare payments, an increase Watertown says it deserves and needs to retain a
qualified staff and keep non-Medicare fees in line. “The law just is not
reasonable. It does not take into account the rural hospital that’s just
bordering an urban county and therefore has urban county costs,” said Leo Bargielski, president of Watertown Memorial Hospital. WDT
