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2019 Was a Rough Year for Rural Hospitals

Analysis  |  By John Commins  
   December 26, 2019

Since 2005, 162 rural hospitals have shuttered, with 60% of the closures occurring in southern states that did not expand Medicaid enrollment.

Despite a booming national economy, 2019 was the worst year for hospital closings since at least 2005.

The North Carolina Rural Health Research Program says that 19 rural hospitals closed this year, up from 15 closures in 2018, and continuing a steady double-digit trend in closures since 2013.

Since 2005, the North Carolina researchers tracked 162 hospital closings, with 60% of the closures occurring in southern states that did not expand Medicaid enrollment.

Texas led the way, with 23 hospital closures since 2005, followed by Tennessee with 13, and North Carolina with 11.

The closures have been blamed on a number of factors, including: the older, sicker, poorer, and less-concentrated rural demographic; bypassing by local residents seeking care at regional hospitals; hospital consolidation; value-based care; referral patterns of larger hospitals; the transition to outpatient services; and mismanagement.

Among the findings highlighted by the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program:

  • More than half of the rural hospitals that close cease to provide any type of health care, which were define as abandoned.
     
  • Most closures and "abandoned" rural hospitals are in South (60%), where poverty rates are higher, people are generally less healthy and less likely to have public or private health insurance.
     
  • Most hospitals closed because of financial problems. 38% of rural hospitals are unprofitable.
     
  • In 2016, 1,375 acute care hospitals out of 4,471 urban and rural acute care hospitals (31%) were unprofitable, including 847 rural hospitals (versus 528 unprofitable urban hospitals).
     
  • Patients in communities affected by closure travel 12.5 miles on average for care. However, 43% of the closed hospitals are more than 15 miles to the nearest hospital, and 15% are more than 20 miles.
     
  • The typical rural hospital employs about 300 people, serves a community of about 60,000. When the only hospital in a county closes, there is a decrease of about $1,400 in per capita income in the county.
     
  • University of Minnesota research shows that between 2004 and 2014, 179 rural counties lost all hospital-based OB services.
     
  • Over the last 15 years, the difference in mortality between rural and urban areas has tripled – from a 6% difference to an 18% difference in 2015.

John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.


KEY TAKEAWAYS

19 rural hospitals closed in 2019, up from 15 closures in 2018, and continuing a steady double-digit trend in closures since 2013.

Most hospitals closed because of financial problem, and 38% of rural hospitals are unprofitable.

Patients in communities affected by closure travel 12.5 miles on average for care. However, 43% of the closed hospitals are more than 15 miles to the nearest hospital, and 15% are more than 20 miles.


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