Rural hospital closures accelerating nationwide

More than 50 rural hospitals have closed in the U.S. over the last six years, and another 283 are in fragile financial condition, according to the National Rural Health Association (Source: “Hospital Closures Rattle Small Towns,” Kaiser Health News, March 10, 2016).

With rural populations long in decline in the United States, small-town hospitals have lost customers and struggled to keep pace with the striking advancements in medical technology. But the pace of closures has escalated in recent years, hastened by a series of budget control measures passed by Congress that reduced Medicare payments and by the Affordable Care Act, which is slowly restructuring the health care industry.

Compounding financial troubles at rural hospitals, 19 states have not taken advantage of a key provision in the health law to expand their Medicaid programs. That’s left many rural hospitals with uninsured patients just as federal subsidies for taking care of the uninsured are being reduced.