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Findings also serve as a warning to urban hospitals, authors say.
COLORADO, USA — A review of the nation’s rural hospitals has categorized six in Colorado as facing immediate risk of closure due to financial losses that can’t be covered by their assets.
The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform (CHQPR), a nationally-focused policy center, is sounding the alarm on rural hospital closures and dwindling patient services across the nation.
The report counted more than 700 rural hospitals in the U.S. that could soon close due the financial pressures, underscoring an uptick in issues that were delayed for a few years because of pandemic aid, said Harold Miller, president and CEO of the center.
Its findings also serving as a warning to the nation’s urban hospitals, which will be forced to take in more patients despite problems with bed availability, staffing shortages and long waits at some emergency rooms, Miller said. He cited shortages of beds at nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, which are contributing to the backlog.
“That’s going to get worse if more hospitals close or convert to rural emergency hospitals,” Miller said.
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