Rural hospitals are cutting chemotherapy services, straining access to care in some states.
According to a February 2024 report from Chartis, a healthcare advisory services firm, 382 rural hospitals ended chemotherapy services from 2014 to 2022, with 29 added in the last 12 months of the report period. Texas lost the most over the eight years studied, with 47% of rural hospitals stopping chemotherapy services. Mississippi and Tennessee both had more than 40% of rural hospitals cut chemotherapy over the reporting period.
The states with the most rural hospitals ending chemotherapy from 2014 to 2022 were:
1. Texas: 57
2. Oklahoma: 23
3. Georgia: 23
4. Tennessee: 22
5. Mississippi: 21
This decline in chemotherapy services occurred as cancer diagnoses for people under 50 years old was on the rise, jumping 13% from 2000 to 2019, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The CDC reported 1.6 million new cancer cases in 2020, the last year data is available, and 602,347 people died of cancer. States in the Southeastern part of the country had among the most new cancer patients in the last 20 years, and also saw among the highest rates of rural hospital service cuts since 2014.
Below is the breakdown for percentage of rural hospitals cutting chemotherapy services by state, according to Chartis:
41 to 50%
Texas
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Mississippi
Alabama
Georgia
Florida
31% to 40%
California
New York
South Carolina
21% to 30%
Nevada
Arizona
New Mexico
Louisiana
Alaska
11% to 20%
Washington
Montana
Wyoming
Kansas
Michigan
Missouri
Arkansas
Kentucky
Ohio
North Carolina
Virginia
Pennsylvania
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Maine
0% to 10%
Oregon
Idaho
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Colorado
Minnesota
Iowa
Wisconsin
Illinois
Iowa
Indiana
West Virginia
Maryland
Delaware
New Jersey
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Vermont
Hawaii