Hale County Hospital CEO Shay Cherry is pushing back on a national report that named the Greensboro facility among three Alabama hospitals at heightened risk of closure — even as the hospital prepares to break ground on a new emergency department.
Public Citizen, a progressive nonprofit founded by Ralph Nader, released a report last week identifying 446 hospitals nationwide at risk of closing or cutting services due to Medicaid funding reductions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the law will cut more than $900 billion in federal Medicaid spending over the next decade.
Three Alabama hospitals were named in the report: Hale County Hospital in Greensboro, Hill Hospital of Sumter County, and Grove Hill Memorial Hospital in Clarke County. The report flagged hospitals where at least 20 percent of revenue comes from Medicaid and other low-income government programs and the facility has posted financial losses in recent years.
But the Alabama Hospital Association disputed the report’s relevance to Alabama, noting that the state never expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, meaning the federal cuts have less direct impact here than in expansion states.
“Alabama didn’t have any Medicaid cuts,” said Danne Howard, executive director of the hospital association, in an interview with AL.com. Howard said the state’s hospitals were already struggling before the law passed, and warned that publicly naming hospitals as closure risks could itself cause harm by driving away patients and staff.
Cherry responded to the report in a statement posted to the hospital’s social media page on Thursday, April 2, calling it flawed and reassuring the community.
“Recently, a flawed report from a progressive organization incorrectly suggested that Hale County Hospital may be at risk of closure,” Cherry wrote. “We want to clearly reassure our community, partners, and patients: Hale County Hospital is not facing closure.”
Cherry said the hospital remains operational and stable, and noted that leadership is actively investing in services, expanding access to care and working to strengthen financial sustainability through strategic planning and community partnerships. She said the hospital is working to enhance and expand its emergency services.
“Reports that categorize hospitals using national-level data models do not always reflect the full, current picture of an individual facility,” Cherry wrote.
The hospital is in fact in the midst of a major expansion. U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell secured $1 million in federal community project funding for construction of a new emergency department on the hospital campus. Sewell presented the check to hospital administrators in July 2024.
The new ER will be a 6,000-square-foot facility connected to the main hospital building, with six treatment rooms, including bariatric and psychiatric hold capabilities — a major upgrade from the original emergency department, which has not been significantly renovated since 1963.
The report comes amid a broader rural hospital crisis in Alabama. At least seven rural hospitals in the state have closed since 2010, according to the hospital association, and the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform has estimated that roughly half of Alabama’s 52 rural hospitals are at some level of financial risk.
The Alabama Legislature created the Rural Hospital Investment Program in 2025, offering dollar-for-dollar state tax credits for donations to eligible rural hospitals.
Hale County Hospital is among 50 hospitals approved for the program. Hill Hospital of Sumter County and Grove Hill Memorial Hospital are also eligible.
