Rural Health
News by Topic: Closures of healthcare facilities and services
Sep 6, 2024 - Offers overview of challenges for rural pharmacies in North Carolina and across the country, highlighting a recent increase in rural pharmacy closures. Discusses reimbursement, workforce recruitment, and volume purchasing as contributors to closures.
Source: North Carolina Health News
Sep 4, 2024 - Discusses plans to reopen a Critical Access Hospital in Tillman County, Oklahoma after eight years of closure. Describes how the closure increased transportation time for locals seeking hospital-level care. Notes that the new facility is supported by a mix of federal and state funding.
Source: High Plains Public Radio
Aug 25, 2024 - Profiles the owner of an independent nursing home in rural Aroostook County, Maine. Describes how factors including reimbursement rates, staffing shortages, and changing regulations have led to decreases in profitability over the past decades, and contributed to numerous recent closures. Features a variety of expert perspectives on recent efforts by the Maine state government to update reimbursement rates and payment models.
Source: The Maine Monitor
Aug 22, 2024 - Discusses the impact of nursing home closures on social networks for rural Minnesota residents and their families. Discusses funding challenges and policy measures attempting to address workforce recruitment and retention issues driving the closures.
Source: MinnPost
Aug 15, 2024 - Discusses the loss of chemotherapy treatment in rural Tennessee. Notes that COVID-related increases in the cost of healthcare have led some hospitals to end the service.
Source: WPLN
Aug 13, 2024 - Highlights the role of doulas in rural Virginia, particularly for Black women, in light of lost labor and delivery services. Discusses policy measures attempting to increase access to doula services, the health benefits of doula services, and reimbursement rates.
Source: Cardinal News
Aug 11, 2024 - Reports on a proposal to use ambulance vessels to address consistent access to emergency medical care issues for island communities in Maine. Discusses costs of the service, the current state of emergency medical services and healthcare access, and concerns by remote communities on the islands.
Source: The Maine Monitor
Aug 10, 2024 - Highlights the impact of historical discrimination on current healthcare access and health disparities for residents in predominately Black communities. Discusses the impact of hospital integration nationally and within a rural Mississippi Delta community.
Source: NPR, KFF Health News
Aug 1, 2024 - Discusses the challenges with accessing cancer treatment for rural residents in areas without treatment options due to closures of services and facilities. Discusses trends nationally and in Texas. Highlights the burden that long distances to care puts on both the patient and their families, particularly with transportation, childcare, and time off work. Discusses the benefits of the 340B program.
Source: CBS News, KFF Health News
Jul 30, 2024 - Describes the disproportionate impacts of Medicaid expansion on rural populations in North Carolina. Notes that uninsurance and poverty rates are highest in rural counties, in addition to the prevalence of multiple health conditions. Also discusses the impacts of Medicaid expansion on rural hospital viability.
Source: Cardinal & Pine