This year, Becker's has reported on care deserts expanding for five specialties.
Care deserts refer to counties or areas that lack a provider for a specific condition or specialty, and they tend to be in rural communities. Counties high on the social vulnerability index with few primary care practitioners are 30% to 40% more likely to have care deserts than other counties.
Here are five care deserts that have expanded in 2024:
Pharmacy
An Ohio State University study found 46% of counties do not have retail pharmacies within 10 miles. More counties may experience pharmacy deserts as CVS plans to close 900 stores in the next three years and Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy.
Cancer
Many hospitals are discontinuing essential services, such as chemotherapy due to financial strains and staffing challenges. Charis, a health analytics and consulting firm, found in a report published this spring that between 2014 and 2022, 382 rural hospitals halted chemotherapy services. Only eight states did not see a chemotherapy service close. Meanwhile, the states with the highest percent of rural hospitals eliminating chemotherapy services were Texas (47%), Alabama (46%), Mississippi (45%), Tennessee (44%) and Florida (39%).
OB-GYN
Fifty-seven percent of rural U.S. hospitals lack labor and delivery services. In the last five years, about 100 hospitals have cut labor and delivery services.
Currently, 978 rural hospitals offer labor and delivery services, but 40% lost money on it in 2022 and 2023, putting their ability to continue maternity care at risk.
Nursing homes
Since 2020, 774 nursing homes have closed, accounting for 62,567 fewer nursing home beds. In addition, 20% of nursing homes have closed a unit, wing or floor due to labor shortages. Combined, this has displaced more than 28,400 residents.
Only seven new facilities were opened in 2024. About 46% of nursing homes are limited to new admissions and 57% of nursing facilities have a waiting list for new residents.
Mental health
Access to mental health services has dwindled with many living in care deserts. This has caused people in crisis to turn to emergency departments for help. From 2018 to 2020, the average rate of mental health-related ED visits among adults was 53 per 1,000 adults, according to CDC data. Among children, the rate was 14 per 100,000. Systems are attempting to close the gap on care by opening behavioral health urgent cares.