This website is being reviewed for updates. Some information is offline. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Healthcare facilities

How Community Health Centers Respond to Rural Hospital Closures
Describes how community health centers work to fill gaps in healthcare services and impact the economy when a local rural hospital closes.
Author(s): Nick Widmyer, Lena Ben-Gideon
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Community Health Centers
view details
The Pennsylvania Rural Health Model (PARHM): Fourth Annual Evaluation Report
Evaluates the fourth performance year of the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model (PARHM), an initiative designed to test if global budgets can help rural hospitals improve their financial viability, provide flexibility to meet locally defined community health needs, and reduce overall healthcare spending. Provides an overview of the model and describes the implementation experience of participating hospitals and payers. Presents a descriptive quantitative assessment of financial performance, spending and utilization, access to care, and quality of care outcomes from 2016, the model's baseline, through 2022. Includes three case studies discussing three themes: experiences with global budget reconciliation, behavioral health transformation, and interactions and alignment between PARHM and other value-based care programs.
Additional links: Appendix, Findings at a Glance
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NORC at the University of Chicago
view details
Hospital Margins Rebounded in 2023, But Rural Hospitals and Those With High Medicaid Shares Were Struggling More Than Others
Examines hospital margins for non-federal general short-term hospitals in the U.S. from 2018 through 2023, with a focus on operating margins. Analyzes RAND Hospital Data to explore the extent to which hospitals profited or lost money on patient care and other operating activities. Discusses differences in operating margins by hospital characteristics, including hospital ownership type, commercial share, size, rural or urban location, and Medicare rural payment designation.
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organization: KFF
view details
Use of Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities by Medicare Beneficiaries with Dementia
Describes the sociodemographic and health characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries with and without dementia who use inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs). Examines diagnoses and utilization that precede psychiatric inpatient stays and outcomes following IPF stays, including health care utilization and mortality. Includes data on Medicare IPF patients who reside in rural counties and counties that are entirely or partially in a primary care or mental health Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA).
Author(s): Mark Sorbero, Flora Sheng, Swad Komanduri, Jodi L. Liu
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organizations: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, RAND Corporation
view details
Critical Access Hospital Financial Sustainability Guide
Provides guidance and assistance to state Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) Program personnel, leaders of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), and others helping CAHs manage long-term financial stability. Presents potential interventions CAHs may use to address ongoing and systemic financial challenges in rural healthcare.
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organizations: EideBailly, National Rural Health Resource Center
view details
Market Selection Insights for New Mental Healthcare Facilities in Rural Illinois
Analyzes rural areas in Illinois that have an appropriate demand center, traffic flow, and mental healthcare need to locate a new mental healthcare facility. Provides a metro versus nonmetro list of residential mental health and substance use facilities as well as projected finances of a new mental health facility in a nonmetro location.
Author(s): Adee Athiyaman
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organization: Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs
view details
Low Birthweight Rate Differences Associated with Distinct Perinatal Staffing Mixes at Federally Funded Health Centers
Examines associations between health center staffing models and low birthweight (LBW), utilizing 2011-2021 Uniform Data System files of 1,385 health centers. Includes data on rural-urban differences in distribution of hospitals staffing certified nurse midwives (CNMs), obstetricians-gynecologists (OBs), both, or neither.
Author(s): Paula M. Kett, Grace A. Guenther, Marieke S. van Eijk, David G. Patterson, Bianca K. Frogner
Citation: Health Affairs Scholar, 2(12), qxae113
Date: 12/2024
view details
Ohio Policy Spotlight: School-Based Health Care and Medicaid
Provides an overview of school-based health services in Ohio. Includes county-level data on the percentage of Ohio children enrolled in any public health insurance.
Author(s): Becky Carroll, Sarah Al-Hashemi
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organization: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
view details
Indian Health Service Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2025-2029
Highlights the strategic plan for the Indian Health Service's 2025-2029 fiscal years. Features operational goals for workplace safety, cultural competency, workforce recruitment and retention, access to care, program management, healthcare facility infrastructure, and partnerships.
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organization: Indian Health Service
view details
Effects of Rural Hospital Closures on Nurse Staffing Levels and Health Care Utilization at Nearby Hospitals
Analyzes healthcare utilization and nurse staffing levels when nearby rural hospitals close. Utilizes 2014-2019 American Hospital Association Survey data to examine vocational nurse/licensed practical nurse (LPN), registered nurse (RN), and advanced practice nurse (APN) staffing levels as well as inpatient and outpatient surgical operations and emergency department (ED) visits within 4 years of a hospital closure.
Author(s): Jing Dong, Siying Liu, Asefeh Faraz Covelli, Guido Cataife
Citation: Health Economics, 33(12), 2687-2707
Date: 12/2024
view details