Dive Brief:
- Hospital and clinic closures in underserved rural areas are poised to leave some U.S. communities with virtually no access to care.
- Problems affecting hospitals, including demographic shifts, the economy and falling hospital reimbursement. are likely to to make the stress on hospitals worse.
- Yet another factor leading to closures in rural areas is that residents of these "medical deserts" are less likely to have good health insurance to buoy up the few hospitals near them, experts say.
Dive Insight:
Both in rural areas with few hospitals, and urban communities which are undeserved, hospitals are facing catastrophe due to larger forces affecting the industry. And as if that wasn't enough, some states will see a large cut in disproportionate share payments which will only make things worse. It seems it may be time for a full-on rescue program to keep hospitals open in underserved areas like Detroit, which has gone from 42 hospitals serving 1.5 million people to a scant four hospitals serving 700,000 mostly uninsured patients with little or no means to pay for care.This trend calls for nothing less than a full-scale rescue mission for hospitals needed in their community. After all, even if the ACA gives people good coverage -- a doubtful prospect at the moment -- they need to have somewhere to use it.
