Hospitals across the nation are facing a myriad of financial challenges, including underpayments for both Medicare and Medicaid and more than $144 billion of new cuts since 2010.
These financial challenges combined with other issues, such as declining patient volumes, have led 57 rural hospitals to close over the past five years.
Below are nine hospitals that have closed so far this year, according to the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. For the purposes of its analysis, the NCRHRP defined a hospital closure as the cessation in provision of inpatient services.
1. Cochise Regional Hospital (Douglas, Ariz.)
2. Hunt Regional Community Hospital of Commerce (Texas)
3. Kilmichael (Miss.) Hospital
4. Marlboro Park Hospital (Bennettsville, S.C.)
5. Nye Regional Medical Center (Tenopah, Nev.)
6. Parkridge West Hospital (Jasper, Tenn.)
7. Parkview Adventist Medical Center (Brunswick, Maine)
8. Parkway Regional Hospital (Fulton, Ky.)
9. Yadkin Valley Community Hospital (Yadkinville, N.C.)
Although all of the hospitals listed above no longer provide inpatient care, four of them still offer some services: Parkview Adventist still offers urgent care services; Hunt Regional is now an emergency medical center and outpatient clinic; Parkridge West offers 24-hour emergency, imaging and lab services; and Kilmichael Hospital is now a rural health clinic, according to the NCRHRP.
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