The Crisis in Rural Health Care
What if you had an accident and the closest Emergency Room was over 30 minutes away?
What if you were sick and there were no physicians or hospital beds in your community?
Millions of Americans are facing this situation because rural hospitals are being forced to close. Over 100 rural hospitals have closed over the past decade, and nearly 700 additional rural hospitals — over 30% of all rural hospitals in the country — are at risk of closing in the near future. Even if they have insurance to pay for health care services, there is nowhere in their community they can use the insurance.
The primary cause of rural hospital closures is that payments from health insurance plans are adequate to sustain essential services in rural communities. Current federal programs don’t solve the problems facing small rural hospitals, and some proposed changes would make the problems worse. Rural hospitals need both adequate payments and a better payment system in order to provide essential healthcare services for their communities.
Learn more about the causes of this crisis in healthcare and how it can be solved here:
Overview of Causes and Solutions
1. The Importance of Rural Hospitals
2. The Causes of Rural Hospital Problems
3. The Cost of Rural Hospital Services
4. The Cost-Based Payment System
Reports on Problems & Solutions
Reports describing rural hospital problems and solutions are available at no charge here.
Data on Hospitals
Data on the financial status of individual rural and urban hospitals are available here.
