Rural hospital closings cause mortality rates to rise, study finds

More than 100 rural hospitals have closed in the United States since 2010 and another 430 are at risk of closing, which a new study says could have life-or-death implications for rural communities.

University of Washington researchers examined 92 rural hospital closings in California from 1995 to 2011. They found that while the closings of urban hospitals had no impact on their surrounding communities, rural closings caused their populations — which have limited access to health care and other services — to see mortality rates rise 5.9 percent.

That could have real implications for communities across the United States given that 113 hospitals have already closed since 2010 and more face financial difficulties, according to data compiled by the University of North Carolina.

“Rural closings increase travel times for patients, and lead to outmigration of health care professionals post-closure, severely dismembering patient access to care and exacerbating social disparities in health outcomes,” researchers Kritee Gujral and Anirban Basu wrote in their study.
This concerns me regarding any version of a Health Care Plan. This is something that needs to be fixed.