Hospital mergers and acquisitions are changing the face of health care in both rural and urban communities across the country. Declining reimbursement levels, increased capital needs, a weak economy and easier access to credit have all contributed to a level of mergers not seen in more than a decade. The NC Rural Health Research Program’s Findings Brief: Rural… Read more »

The NC Rural Health Research Program’s Findings Brief: How Does Medicaid Expansion Affect Insurance Coverage of Rural Populations? examines how states’ decisions on Medicaid expansion are impacting rural areas in the U.S., we used population estimates, current status of state expansion, and state-level insurance estimates to answer two primary questions:  1) How is Medicaid expansion… Read more »

This recent Findings Brief from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program finds that Medicare beneficiaries who are admitted to rural hospitals tend to have lower outpatient costs than Medicare beneficiaries admitted to urban hospitals. These differences are due to multiple factors,  some of which were adjusted in the comparisons included in the Brief. The… Read more »

The North Carolina Rural Health Research Program released their Findings Brief, .  It looks at how changes to Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) reimbursement – notably a reversion to prospective payment – would have marked negative effects on CAH profitability and financial health.  Roughly three quarters of CAHs would operate at a loss.  The number of CAHs… Read more »