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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Closures of healthcare facilities and services

Texas Rural Hospital Closures Since January 2013
A map identifying the location of rural hospital closures in Texas along with whether they later reopened or now provide limited services.
Date: 09/2019
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals
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Impact of Rural and Urban Hospital Closures on Inpatient Mortality
Examines the impact of California's hospital closures from 1995-2011 on adjusted inpatient mortality for sepsis, stroke, asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and acute myocardial infarction. Features statistics including the number of closures by year, patient demographics with breakdowns by urban or rural location, and differential impacts of rural and urban closures with breakdowns by condition.
Author(s): Kritee Gujral, Anirban Basu
Citation: NBER Working Paper Series, Working Paper 26182
Date: 08/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Bureau of Economic Research
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Addressing Rural Hospital Closures Through Infrastructure Reform
Provides a historical overview of rural Medicare reimbursement and provider designations and discusses their impact on hospital closures. Supports changing the rural health infrastructure to provide more flexibility for rural hospitals and to emphasize primary care and emergency care access.
Author(s): Eleni Salyers
Date: 08/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Bipartisan Policy Center
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A Flexible Solution: How Critical Access Hospitals Reshaped Rural Health
Brief video overview describing how the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 created the Critical Access Hospital designation to reduce rural hospital closures. Discusses the role of the Senate Finance Committee and Federal Office of Rural Health Policy in developing the related policies, the transition of rural hospitals to critical access status, and the creation and impact of the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex Program).
Date: 07/2019
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Declining Endoscopic Care by Family Physicians in Both Rural and Urban Areas
Results of a study using data from 2014-2016 to determine whether the percentage of family physicians providing endoscopic services has declined in rural as well as urban areas. Features statistics with breakdowns by 3 types of procedures and urban or rural location.
Author(s): Lars E. Peterson, Urooj Nasim, Vashisht Madabhushi
Citation: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 32(4), 460-461
Date: 07/2019
Type: Document
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A Rural Health Crisis: The Changing Landscape of the 1980s and Beyond
Brief video overview of issues in the 1980s that resulted in a wave of rural hospital closures, including an economic shift from manufacturing, farm closures, and changes in the Medicare payment system.
Date: 06/2019
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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How Rural Communities Adapt to Hospital Closure
Poster from the 2019 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting examining how rural communities have responded to hospital closures since 2010 based on a review of the literature. Focuses on short and long-term results related to access to emergency services, care delivery models, and community response.
Author(s): Redwan Bin Abdul Baten, Erin M. Mobley, Mina Shrestha, Fred Ullrich, Keith J. Mueller
Date: 06/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute
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The Rural Hospital Problem
Provides a perspective on rural hospital closures, summarizing literature on contributing factors and impacts on healthcare access and rural economies. Also discusses hospital quality and hospital competition.
Author(s): Austin B. Frankt
Citation: JAMA, 321(23), 2271-2272
Date: 06/2019
Type: Document
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How the Federal Government Supports State and Local Efforts to Improve Rural Health: A Q&A with Tom Morris
Provides a Q&A with Tom Morris, associate administrator of rural health policy at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Focuses on how government agencies are addressing rural hospital closures, population health, rural workforce development, and the opioid epidemic.
Date: 06/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Milbank Memorial Fund
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A Picture of the Loss of Rural Obstetrical Service in Alabama 1980 to 2019
County-level maps showing counties offering obstetric service in 1980 and those offering service as of May 2019.
Date: 05/2019
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: Alabama Office of Primary Care and Rural Health
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