KEOKUK, IA -- As a business, it's hard to stay open if your costs are higher than your revenue.

That's the problem Keokuk Area Hospital is facing because Medicare can only partially reimburse the hospital.

50 percent of the hospital's patients are on Medicare.

Medicare has several reimbursement programs.

Currently Keokuk Area doesn't qualify for the full reimbursement program known as Critical Access.

That program is designed for hospitals with fewer than 25 beds and Keokuk has 49.

Delegates from Lee County are going to Washington D.C. Wednesday.

They plan to ask legislators to change the Critical Access requirement to include larger hospitals.

"Unfortunately, we are in that gap where we're too big for critical access and too small for some of the other programs," KAH Chief Operating Officer Richard Thomason said. "We're hoping that our legislators in Washington will hear our plea to increase the critical access program to 49 beds."

Keokuk Area Hospital's Chief Financial Officer, Walter Winkler, says unless his hospital starts to see more revenue from Medicare, it's in danger of closing in a matter of years.