PHF Discussion Board

For your responses to your classmate, ask questions or connect them with resources that will encourage them to rethink their conclusions.

Classmate Davidson 

Rural Health Care Crisis

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I never put much thought into the circumstances that rural hospitals have to endure to stay afloat.  Rural hospitals have numerous challenges, and that has surprised me.  With few health care professionals settling in rural areas, policy changes involving Medicare and Medicaid, and their small size, hospitals in rural areas are struggling to survive.1,2  This is certainly the case in Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas where a total 32 rural hospitals have closed.3  It is undoubtedly a crisis when hospitals are closing and as a result traveling an hour or more is required to receive primary care and emergency medical care services.1,4

Patients seeking care at rural hospitals tend to be poorer, older, uninsured, and less healthy than residents in urban areas.1,5  Mix that with transportation difficulties such as lack of public transportation, not having access to a car or not being able to drive because of age or disability and you have barriers to seeking medical care.6  Catching and treating chronic diseases early with preventive care becomes more difficult when a trip to the doctor is an arduous journey.  This scenario snowballs even further as it often results in putting off seeing a doctor, which leads to additional health problems and a higher burden on our tax dollars.7 

These rural areas tend to have a higher number of older Americans as they are remaining in these rural areas and the younger generations are moving to more urban areas.8  Even the health professionals in these rural areas are getting older leaving the senior population vulnerable.9 

 

References

1. The Opportunities and Challenges for Rural Hospitals in an Era of Health Reform. TrendWatch.  http://www.aha.org/research/reports/tw/11apr-tw-rural.pdf>Published  April 2011.

2. Avalere Health analysis of American Hospital Association Annual Survey data, 2009, for community hospitals.

3. Ellison A. A state-by-state breakdown of 80 rural hospital closures.  Becker’s Healthcare. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/a-state-by-state-breakdown-of-80-rural-hospital-closures.html . Published December 13, 2016. Accessed October 6, 2017.

4. Bryant M. Rural hospitals keep closing. What can be done? HealthcareDive.  http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/rural-hospitals-keep-closing-what-can-be-done/416038/ . Published March 22, 2016. Accessed October 6, 2107.

5. Gamm LD, Hutchison LL, Dabney BJ, Dorsey AM. Rural healthy people 2010: a companion document to healthy people 2010. College Station, TX: The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, School of Rural Public Health, Southwest Rural Health Research Center. 2003(1).

6. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (1996). Improving Health Care for Rural Populations. Access at http://www.ahrq.gov/research/rural.htm.\

7. Wallace R, Hughes-Cromwick P, Mull H, Khasnabis S. Access to health care and nonemergency medical transportation: Two missing links. Transportation Research Record. 2005:76-84.

8. McGranahan  D,  Cromartie  J,  Wojan  T. The Two Faces of Rural Population Loss Through Outmigration. Amber Waves Website.  https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2010/december/the-two-faces-of-rural-population-loss-through-outmigration/ . Published December 1, 2010. Accessed October 6, 2017.

9. National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services. The 2010 Report to the Secretary: Rural Health and Human Services Issues.   https://www.hrsa.gov/advisorycommittees/rural/2010secretaryreport.pdf . Published May 2010.Bottom of Form