As health reform dust settles, rural hospitals still fear for future

Rural hospitals across Ohio fear for their future, even with repeal and replace seemingly out of the equation (Source: “Rural hospitals teeter on edge of closing, cutting services in post-healthcare reform world,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Aug. 14, 2017)

Forty-one percent of all rural hospitals in the nation, including 13 Ohio facilities, operate at a loss. Nationally, 80 rural hospitals have closed since 2010, according to The Chartis Center for Rural Health. Another 273 are at risk.

The American Hospital Association estimates hospitals receive 90 cents per dollar spent on Medicaid and 88 cents per dollar on Medicare. Hospitals with greater shares of Medicaid and Medicare patients have to find ways to make up the difference, despite rising costs of supplies, prescriptions and providing care. In Ohio, rural hospitals fare a bit better than those in other parts of the country because of the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act that provided insurance to an extra 700,000 people.