Several hospitals across the U.S. are cutting the number of workers or closing. This is concerning and may reduce medical care access in more rural areas. The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform reports that as many as 631 rural hospitals currently face the risk of closure out of 5,000 in the country. In six American states, more than 50% of rural hospitals are likely to close in the near future. The U.S. healthcare system is currently going through a severe crisis and the magnitude of the problem is intensifying. A high number of healthcare facilities have already gone through closures, and more are destined to face closures in the near future. This has led to mass layoffs and salary cuts amongst physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers across the US. Among the hospitals highlighted that have recently been cutting staff, Oklahoma University (OU) Health, Oklahoma City-based Integris Health, ProMedica in Toledo, Ohio, New York City-based Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Pikeville Medical Center in Kentucky, Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas, California-based Kaweah Health in Visalia. In November 2022, Atlanta Medical Center (AMC) announced its closure, leaving hundreds of workers jobless. This closure also had a severe adverse impact on the availability of trauma care in Atlanta. Layoffs and Salary Cuts in Healthcare: Physicians Turning to Side Gigs, Alternative Revenue Streams, Nirav Shah, July 2023 The closures of rural hospitals are very concerning. These are often the only hospital nearby in those areas. If the hospital closes down, older people with health problems who frequently receive treatment at the hospital may have to relocate. This can be very expensive and not easy for them to afford doing so. When no hospital is available in an area, it can accelerate the decline of that area, since people may be more reluctant to live there. Chances of survival may be lower in a medical emergency, and it can also be much more difficult, expensive, and inconvenient to get treatment in the event a medical problem arises. Retired people often prefer to live in rural areas because of the cheaper costs. When fewer rural areas have hospital access, it could put pressure on people to live in more expensive areas, and that would not be good for the economy. It could put even more pressure on people to have to squeeze into already overcrowded areas.
The one here seems to be worse than nothing at all sometimes. About 8 weeks ago my girlfriend was walking the dog on a leash and he pulled her down causing her to fall and bruise the hell out of her hip, it still hurt the next day so we went to the ER for an x-ray.... They told her that she had just bruised it. Last week she just had an MRI on her hip, to look for possible sources of nerve pain. And surprise surprise they called us today and said that she has a hip fracture. So for the last 7 weeks she's been in pretty severe pain and not getting treatment because this hospital doesn't know how to find a broken bone. I would say that's worse treatment than none. Though In fairness I did get my ankle surgery here and that turned out okay.
Rural America Is Losing Nursing Homes, and Small Towns Are Reeling, Lauren Coleman-Lochner and Martin Z Braun, Bloomberg (News), October 2023 Across the country, almost 690 nursing homes have shut their doors since 2020, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The American Health Care Association, an industry trade group, expects the number to keep ticking up in the coming years, because of a combination of rising labor costs, falling enrollments and government reimbursements that fall far short of paying the bills. America's elder-care deficit is particularly acute in the Midwest and parts of the South, where a larger portion of the population age 65 and older resides in rural counties. This might lead to elderly people being more detached and isolated from their family members, if they are moved to nursing homes further away. It may also make elderly persons more vulnerable to abuse, if their grown adult children are unable to keep watch over the situation in the nursing home.
We have converted a lot of the smaller rural families into “combined care” units. Basically the hospital becomes a local nursing home with an ED and a couple of acute care beds
This part stood out to me. Yes, the elderly will have to move out of the rural areas into more expensive areas with high levels of medical services. This is not necessarily bad as they will be helped more by the higher availability of health services, and that is exactly what these areas were built for. Yes, these areas are expensive, but they often are found in liberal states and cities with high levels of financial aid available to the needy. This will also put pressure on the government to address the need caused by the lack of affordable housing. And, as @Bowerbird said, we need universal healthcare.
Yep! For profit medical institutions make zero sense! Any necessary industry with inelastic demand should be seized by the government and made free at the point of service.
