Rural hospitals wary of proposed Medicare cuts

Small-town hospitals are worried that a federal recommendation to cut costs by re-evaluating which rural hospitals receive higher Medicare reimbursements could threaten their financial security — and even prompt them to shut their doors. "At the end of the day, if that became reality, we're looking at closing 50 or 60 hospitals in the state," the majority of the state's rural safety net for emergency care, said Don McBeath, director of government relations for the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals, or TORCH.