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| At least 155 rural hospitals have closed since 2005, as shown on this map. Dots sized by number of beds in each hospital. (Map by The Conversation; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.) |
"Small rural Midwest community hospitals, squeezed by financial and regulatory pressures, are scaling back on services, merging with larger hospital systems and searching for other creative ways to survive in the short term," Jennifer Hemmingsen of IowaWatch reports as part of an Institute for Nonprofit News investigation by 12 news organizations in seven states.
Nationwide, 113 rural hospitals have closed since 2010, including 16 in 2019 so far. Most of the closures have been in Southern states, especially those that rejected Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. "But even in the Midwest, 16 percent of rural hospitals rank high or mid-high on a financial stress index developed by University of North Carolina Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research," Hemmingsen reports. "Navigant, a consulting firm with clients that include hospitals and state hospital associations, crunched the numbers in a different way – looking just at operating margins, cash on hand and debt — and concluded that 18% of rural hospitals in 12 Midwestern states were at high risk of closing unless their finances improved."
The series looks at strategies some rural Midwestern hospitals are employing to stay open, including merging with larger health systems or bringing in specialists like obstetricians a few times a month. It also looks at the economic impact hospitals have in rural areas, where they're often the largest local employers. And, the series examines policy proposals that could help rural hospitals.
The investigation is the first in a series of planned collaborative projects under the INN's Amplify News Project, which is a pilot program exploring how nonprofit news organizations can best collaborate and distribute the result.
from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2nayMw6 Investigation details struggles of rural Midwestern hospitals - Entrepreneur Generations
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