Urban and rural hospitals closing at similar rates, new study finds

Urban hospitals are closing at roughly the same rate as rural ones, with the shuttered hospitals more likely to have served communities with high poverty rates and fewer transportation options, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal JAMA (Source: “Urban, rural hospitals closing at similar rates, study finds,” Ohio Capital Journal, Oct. 12).
 
According to analysis by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, hospital closures increased by 4% year over year between 2010 and last year, while new hospital openings decreased 3% year over year.

Public attention has mostly focused on struggling rural hospitals, but the Harvard researchers found that urban hospitals also have been vulnerable: The closure rate was 9.1% for urban hospitals and 8.3% for rural hospitals. Across both rural and urban areas, hospitals that were for-profit, small or safety-net, or served the most vulnerable counties — such as those with higher poverty rates or less access to transportation — were most likely to close.
 
The study comes as health systems across the nation brace for the effects of HR 1, the broad tax and spending measure passed by congressional Republicans and signed by President Trump in July 2025. The so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act is projected to cut federal Medicaid spending by an estimated $886.8 billion over the next decade, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.