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

MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy, 2015
Annual review of Medicare payment policies, with recommendations to Congress. Discussions of rural aspects of Medicare payment policies are included throughout the report.
Date: 03/2015
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Financially Fragile Rural Hospitals: Mergers and Closures
Highlights a national trend of financial stress on rural hospitals that have led to facility and service closures and mergers in recent years. Discusses the causes of the financial stress, including the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the lack of Medicaid expansion in some states, and operational challenges in transitioning to value-based care.
Author(s): Mark Holmes
Citation: North Carolina Medical Journal, 76(1), 37-40
Date: 01/2015
Type: Document
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Update: Independently Owned Pharmacy Closures in Rural America, 2003-2013
Examines the closure of independently owned rural pharmacies in America from 2003-2013 and its impact on rural Americans' access to medications and other pharmacy services. Tables 1 and 2 provide data on state-by-state changes between 2003-2009 and 2003-2013. This report is an update to past publications from RUPRI.
Author(s): Fred Ullrich, Keith J. Mueller
Date: 06/2014
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Change in Profitability and Financial Distress of Critical Access Hospitals from Loss of Cost-Based Reimbursement
Examines how proposed changes to Critical Access Hospital (CAH) cost-based reimbursement would affect the financial vulnerability of CAHs. Uses models to forecast the financial impact of 20 and 30 percent reductions in Medicare revenue, and the resulting implications for rural healthcare access.
Author(s): Mark Holmes, George H. Pink
Date: 12/2013
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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Implications for Beneficiary Travel Time if Financially-Vulnerable Critical Access Hospitals Close
Examines potential increases in beneficiary travel times and distances if financially-vulnerable Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) close. Analysis is based on a review of 93 CAHs identified as financially-vulnerable and likely to close if reimbursement methods or eligibility requirements change.
Author(s): Victoria A. Freeman, Randy K. Randolph, George Pink, Mark Holmes
Date: 12/2013
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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Demographic and Economic Characteristics Associated with Sole County Pharmacy Closures, 2006-2010
Describes demographic and economic characteristics associated with counties experiencing closure of their sole pharmacy which results in patients having reduced access to key health services like drug dispensing, immunizations, patient assessments, and medication therapy management services.
Author(s): Paula Weigel, Fred Ullrich, Keith Mueller
Date: 11/2013
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Causes and Consequences of Rural Pharmacy Closures: A Multi-Case Study
Identifies factors that contributed to the closing of 6 rural pharmacies in different states. Describes how the affected communities adapted to losing locally based services.
Author(s): Kelli Todd, Katie Westfall, Bill Doucette, Fred Ullrich, Keith Mueller
Date: 08/2013
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Rural Pharmacy Closures: Implications for Rural Communities
Documents the closure of local retail pharmacies in which the pharmacist was the community's only clinical provider at the time the pharmacy closed. Describes the characteristics of each community and retail pharmacy in question.
Author(s): Kelli Todd, Fred Ullrich, Keith Mueller
Date: 01/2013
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Independently Owned Pharmacy Closures in Rural America (2012)
Examines the closure of independently owned rural pharmacies in America from 2003-2011 and its effects on rural Americans' access to medications and other pharmacy services. Discusses rural pharmacy rates of closure before and after implementation of the Medicare prescription drug discount card program in January 2004 and the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit program in January 2006.
Author(s): Kaitlin Boyle, Fred Ullrich, Keith Mueller
Date: 07/2012
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Independently Owned Pharmacy Closures in Rural America, 2003-2010
Provides information about the closure of rural independently owned pharmacies from 2003 through 2010, including pharmacies that are the sole source of access to local pharmacy services.
Author(s): Kaitlin Boyle, Fred Ullrich, Keith Mueller
Date: 06/2011
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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