Report finds Ohio rural hospitals facing tougher financial challenges

A January analysis of Ohio hospital finances found that rural hospitals across the state are faring worse than those in urban areas (Source: “Rural hospital finances are tight,” Associated Press via Mansfield News Journal, July 13, 2014).

Researchers at iVantage Health Analytics Analytics found hospitals in the state’s metropolitan counties were running slightly in the black, while those in non-metro counties — often the largest employers — showed narrow loses.

Brock Slabach, senior vice president of the National Rural Health Association, said the challenges at rural hospitals are in some ways unique because they have trouble recruiting health care professionals while serving a population that’s often older, sicker and poorer.

For many hospitals, including those in rural areas, the Medicaid expansion will help make ends meet in light of other cuts in government health care payments. But Slabach said private carriers that sell insurance through the act’s new government-run marketplaces often limit plan participants to narrow networks of providers that often exclude small hospitals.

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