Opinion: Virginia hospitals unfairly caught in a healthcare bind

Hospitals across the nation are financially stressed, none more so than those in states whose legislatures have not expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act. And Centra — the parent of Lynchburg General, Virginia Baptist, Bedford Memorial and Southside Community (Farmville) hospitals — is no different. Increasingly, leaders of hospitals across the commonwealth are becoming more outspoken about the fiscal futures their institutions face in the coming years as the nation's health care system changes. Walker Sydnor, the chairman of Centra's board of directors, is front and center locally in the discussion about the nation's health care system and his advocacy for the General Assembly to find a way to expand Medicaid rolls in Virginia.