One in four rural hospitals were at high financial risk of closing even before coronavirus

Healthcare Finance News April 8, 2020
Jeff Lagasse

The data was gathered before COVID-19 began its spread across the globe, meaning the outlook for rural hospitals may yet worsen.

A full quarter of rural hospitals in the U.S. are at a high risk of closing unless their financial situations improve, according to an annual Guidehouse analysis of publicly available data. The data examined by Guidehouse – formerly Navigant – was collected prior to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, meaning the situation is likely to get worse.

The 354 at-risk rural hospitals span 40 states and represent more than 222,350 annual discharges, 51,800 employees and $8.3 billion in total patient revenue, the analysis found.

Of these hospitals, 287, or 81%, are considered highly essential to the health and economic well-being...

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