{"id":4730,"date":"2022-03-09T17:24:21","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T17:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CBMiUGh0dHBzOi8vZmluYW5jZS55YWhvby5jb20vbmV3cy9oZWFydGxhbmQtaG9zcGl0YWxzLXUtZmFjZS13aXBlb3V0LTE3MjQyMTkwMi5odG1s0gFYaHR0cHM6Ly9maW5hbmNlLnlhaG9vLmNvbS9hbXBodG1sL25ld3MvaGVhcnRsYW5kLWhvc3BpdGFscy11LWZhY2Utd2lwZW91dC0xNzI0MjE5MDIuaHRtbA"},"modified":"2022-03-09T17:24:21","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T17:24:21","slug":"heartland-hospitals-in-u-s-face-wipeout-with-800-at-risk-of-shutdown-yahoo-finance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=4730","title":{"rendered":"Heartland Hospitals in U.S. Face Wipeout With 800 at Risk of Shutdown – Yahoo Finance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Bloomberg) — Pummeled by the pandemic, at least 40% of rural U.S. hospitals are in danger of shutting down and leaving millions of people in smaller and less affluent communities without a nearby emergency and critical care facility.<\/p>\n

Most Read from Bloomberg<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the conclusion of the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, whose recent study sees 500 hospitals at immediate risk for closing within two years and more than 300 others at high risk within five years. The grim assessment by the policy center found the problems spread across the country, and that the threats will persist even if the pandemic ends because rising costs are outrunning revenue.<\/p>\n

All told, there are about 38 million Americans in the at-risk areas; they\u2019d have to drive at least 20 minutes farther if their local hospitals close, with half adding at least 30 minutes, said Harold Miller, the center\u2019s chief executive and author of the report. Many of the facilities are in sparsely populated but important farming, mining or ranching communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe myth is that these are hospitals that should no longer exist in communities that should no longer exist,\u201d Miller said in an interview. Keeping those facilities open would cost $3.4 billion, or less than 1% of total annual spending on hospitals, said Miller, an adjunct public policy and management professor and former associate dean at Carnegie Mellon University.<\/p>\n

Fifteen states have more than half of their rural hospitals at risk of closing because of persistent losses, including Texas and a large swath of the South and Midwest such as Kansas and Mississippi, the study shows. But rural hospitals in New York, Connecticut and Washington State are also in trouble.<\/p>\n