Twenty-six percent of rural hospitals in Texas are at risk of closure, according to a report issued late last year by the firm Kaufman Hall. The number is up 10% from 2021 and the risk is due in part to pandemic relief money running out, 5NBC reports.
“If you have a Whole Foods, you’re urban. If you have a Chick-fil-A, you’re suburban. If you have a Dairy Queen, you’re rural. And if you don’t have a restaurant, you’re frontier,” president and CEO of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals, John Henderson, said.
The organization defines a rural hospital as one in a community of fewer than 60,000 people. Henderson pointed to a closure in Bowie as an example of how important hospitals are not just to a city’s health care, but to its economy. Read more.
