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Rural paramedics are making routine house calls to avoid costly emergency room visits

Jun 28, 2024
Experts say community paramedicine programs, which involve paramedics checking in on people with known health issues before an emergency happens, can cut costs and ease strains on health care systems in rural areas.
Paramedic Alexandria Hollenbeck and Terlingua Fire and EMS Chief Susan Martin are involved in the first community paramedicine program in rural Terlingua, Texas.
Travis Bubenik/Marfa Public Radio

America’s rural hospitals are in the red

May 17, 2023
A new federal program is dropping rural hospitals a lifeline to keep emergency services available as they struggle to turn a profit.
Battle-tested nurse practitioner Peni Russell is among the bare-bones staff responsible for stabilizing sick and injured patients who come into the rural emergency hospital in San Augustine, Texas.
Elizabeth Trovall/Marketplace

At this rural hospital, staffing shortages and telehealth visits have become standard

May 10, 2023
The pandemic changed tech and personnel matters, says surgeon Eric Henderson. But the empathy required and the lovely setting remain the same.
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, where Dr. Eric Henderson works. "The greatest things about living where we live are also the things which make practicing medicine here the most difficult," he says.
Courtesy Dr. Eric Henderson

Company aims to buy and restore struggling rural hospitals in Tennessee

Mar 24, 2022
For rural communities, a key question: Can a new company that is taking over ownership restore confidence in the care the local hospital provides?
Kyle Kopec uses his phone to illuminate a cabinet of medical supplies in the shuttered Decatur County General Hospital. His company, Braden Health, is taking over the facility with a pledge to invest $2 million to reopen it.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News

Rural vaccinations rise but still lag behind cities

Sep 6, 2021
An uptick in vaccination rates in the rural United States corresponds with rising COVID-19 infections and a slimming number of ICU beds.
Local outreach campaigns have helped boost vaccination rates among residents of rural communities.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

What would rural health care from a discount retailer look like?

Jul 19, 2021
Dollar General, with more than 17,000 stores, is moving into health care. Many rural communities have lost hospitals in recent years.
Dollar General plans to provide a "comprehensive network" of affordable health services. Residents have a hard time getting medical care in some of the towns where it has stores.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News

H-1B visa freeze might hurt rural areas in need of doctors

Jun 23, 2020
In America, around 28% of doctors, 35% of home aides and 20% of nursing assistants are foreign born.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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Hospital closure leaves soon-to-be mothers in rural Missouri without an OB-GYN

Jul 16, 2018
Another rural hospital has closed, the 85th to shutter in the U.S. since 2010. This latest closing happened in Dunklin County, Missouri, one of the poorest counties in the state. The hospital was home to the only OB-GYN physician in a region that has one of the highest premature birth and infant mortality rates in […]

As hospitals increasingly close in rural areas, communities consider a hybrid health center model

Mar 28, 2018
Without enough patients with health insurance, hospitals are closing in rural parts of the country. Some communities have turned to hybrid health centers — shy of a hospital but more than a clinic — to try to meet their community's health needs.
A sign lets Lewis County residents know the hours and offerings. Another sign on the building instructs patients to call 911 if the facility is closed for the night. 
Blake Farmer/ for Marketplace

Reinventing the rural health care system

Feb 2, 2018
A new report outlines the challenges the health care system in rural communities faces.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images