Dive Brief:
- Although a hospital closure can strike fear into the hearts of those who live in the community, a new study shows those fears may be unfounded.
- The study, which was conducted by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, found that when hospitals shut down, mortality rates and other quality markers generally do not worsen.
- The researchers also found that while traveling to another hospital may be inconvenient, it had no significant bearing on how often Medicare beneficiaries were admitted, length of stay or care costs.
Dive Insight:
In most cases, hospitals that close tend to be in financial trouble. "It's possible that we didn't see any change in outcomes because patients instead went to nearby hospitals that had better finances and may have had more resources to provide care," Dr. Karen Joint, the study's lead researcher, said.
Others took a more frank approach:
Hospital closures had no impact on mortality rates or outcomes…proving once again, that we have many lousy hospitals http://t.co/EEBcqv97DK
— Amitabh Chandra (@amitabhchandra2) May 5, 2015
Joint also said the study results shouldn't be taken to mean that all hospital losses are harmless. "I would be shocked if you couldn't find an example where access is really threatened," she said.