The median operating margin for rural hospitals is consistently higher in states that have expanded Medicaid than in states that have not, according to a Feb. 23 report from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Between July 2021 and June 2022, the median operating margin for rural hospitals was 3.9 percent in states that have expanded Medicaid, compared to 2.2 percent in states that have not, according to the report. Those figures are based on 438 hospitals analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Rural hospitals would be facing even harsher challenges if not for federal COVID-19 relief funds, according to the report. The median operating margins dip to 1.2 percent in expansion states and -0.7 in non-expansion states when subtracting documented relief funds.
Nearly one-third of all rural hospitals nationally are in the 11 states that have not approved expansion, according to the report.