rural hospitals

Lincoln Hospital would be the 12th rural Maine hospital in a decade to lose its labor and delivery unit.

In short: Reach out to the care center closest to you ahead of time. That way if you ever come in during an emergency, they’ll already be familiar with you.

The policy is projected to have major implications for rural healthcare in particular. Here’s what we’re hearing from healthcare administrators, and how they can prepare.

Medicare reimburses Alabama at the lowest rate in the nation.

The Thomasville Regional Medical Center opened in 2020, with state-of-the-art facilities. It closed less than five years later because of financial hardship.

Despite being run by the states, roughly 70% of Medicaid funding comes from the federal government.

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.

A new federal program is dropping rural hospitals a lifeline to keep emergency services available as they struggle to turn a profit.

Cash-strapped rural and medium-size hospitals are less prepared to absorb higher interest rates.

Many rural hospitals have closed during the pandemic, and their staffers found other work far away.