Across the U.S., a total of 631 rural hospitals — or about 30 percent of all rural hospitals — are at risk of closing in the immediate or near future due to persistent financial losses on patient services, inadequate revenues to cover expenses, and low financial reserves, Becker’s notes, citing a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.
More than 200 of the rural hospitals in the report are identified as being at immediate risk of closure. These hospitals were losing money on patient services before the COVID-19 pandemic, and they did not have sufficient resources to cover those losses, according to the report. Read more.
