Category: Rural Hospitals
Report: Loss of Hospital-Based Obstetrics Care Prevalent in Rural Counties
The less populated a rural county is, the more likely it is to lose obstetrics services, especially “noncore” counties that have no towns with more than 10,000 residents. Among those noncore counties, 148 (or 11%) lost all hospital-based obstetrics services, 15 of those between 2022 and 2023.
Rural Healthcare Is in the Red as Trump Withholds Medicaid Payments to Minnesota
Cuts to public payer programs, like Medicare or Medicaid, disproportionately threaten these hospitals by increasing the rate of uncompensated care, or services for which hospitals receive no payment.
Trump’s new $100K visa fee could worsen state doctor shortages, experts say
Rural communities have long struggled to recruit and retain doctors. Many rural hospitals are struggling financially, and have had to eliminate services or even shut down. The shortage of providers is critical in rural communities that tend to have higher rates of chronic illness and early death compared with their urban counterparts.
Many immigrant physicians help fill those gaps thanks in part to the H-1B visa, which allows skilled foreign workers to come work in the U.S.
Study: Mobile Health Clinics Offer Alternative Access to Care
A new report found that mobile health clinics can provide rural communities with access to healthcare in areas where healthcare facilities and healthcare workers may be scarce.
Rural Health Transformation Program Won’t Make Up for Federal Budget Cuts, Experts Agree
A new program touted to give $50 billion in federal funding to rural hospitals won’t necessarily keep rural hospitals from closing, according to several experts in rural health.
‘You’re Going to See Very Severe Things and Dangerous Things’: Medicaid Cuts in Rural Idaho
Maternity care deserts are counties with no hospital or birth center offering obstetric care and no obstetric clinicians. According to data collected by March of Dimes, 32% of Idaho’s counties are maternity care deserts.
Trump’s new law will limit payments to hospitals that treat low-income patients
President Donald Trump’s new tax and spending law will likely force more than half the states to reduce payments to doctors and hospitals that treat Medicaid patients, a change critics warn will be particularly harmful to rural hospitals struggling to stay afloat.
Research: Policies to Keep Rural Maternity Units Open Not Working
Maternity care is a service that is necessary, but not well reimbursed, and in rural areas with a heavy reliance on Medicaid for financial support, continuing to fund that service can be a difficult decision for hospital administrators to make.
Report: More Rural Maternity Departments Facing Closure
Only 42% of U.S. rural hospitals still offer labor and delivery services. In 11 states, less than a third of the hospitals do, the study found.
Idaho banned abortion. Three years later, minors and seniors struggle to get routine care
It’s been three years since the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Dobbs ruling that ended federal abortion protections and allowed more than a dozen states to implement abortion bans. States that were already struggling with physician shortages say they’re getting worse, especially in rural areas, where many labor and delivery units have also closed their doors. Clinics have closed and resources become more strained with every passing year.
Washington faces major lag in state inspections of hospitals
Washington state inspectors are way behind in their examinations of hospitals and fail to investigate when hospitals report errors they made in caring for patients.
Rural Hospitals and Patients Are Disconnected From Modern Care
Counties without fast, reliable internet and with shortages of health care providers are mostly rural. Nearly 60% of them have no hospital.
Washington Hospitals warn Legislature’s budget plans would deal them a financial hit
Washington hospitals lost $1.74 billion in 2023.
Rural Pharmacies Are Transforming to Take on More Healthcare Responsibilities
As hospitals in rural communities close, pharmacists are changing their workflow and business models to focus on providing more services.
Retired Doctors Step Up in the Face of a Rural Health Care Crisis
By Pat Raia, The Daily Yonder March 11, 2025 Four years ago, family practitioner Dr. Jeff Chappell retired from his post as medical director of the Wayne Community Health Center in Bicknell, Utah. He was excited to undertake a new…