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News Articles: Rural Hospitals

Keokuk County Hospital needs three physicians to staff its emergency room, but currently has just two. The hospital is seeking to hire a third full-time doctor to work in the ER and help treat patients at the 14-bed facility.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

COVID made shortages of doctors and nurses even worse. Rural hospitals still struggle

The U.S. already faced shortages in its health care workforce, then the pandemic spurred even more doctors and nurses to retire or leave hospital jobs. Filling those vacancies is a challenge.

March 14, 2025
|
By:
  • Natalie Krebs
Ed Whitehouse, a consultant for a local company called Interstate Health Systems, stands on a plot of land in rural Butts County, Georgia. The company envisions replacing acres of farmland and trees with a new hospital. A recent change to Georgia law is giving the project a path forward.

Tagged as: 

  • News

Inside the political fight to build a rural Georgia hospital

Political drama involving a rural Georgia county reflects how state regulations that govern when and where hospitals can be built or expanded are evolving.

August 21, 2024
|
By:
  • Andy Miller and
  • Sam Whitehead
Logan Health in Kalispell, Mont., has experienced three data breaches in the past five years. Those cyberattacks exposed the names, phone numbers and addresses of hundreds of thousands of patients. The hospital later settled a lawsuit related to the incidents for $4.2 million.

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

After health care attacks, tech giants will help small hospitals with cyber defenses

As small and rural hospitals struggle against cyber attacks, a federally brokered deal will allow them to access free and discounted cybersecurity services. Experts say it may not be enough.

August 14, 2024
|
By:
  • Aaron Bolton
Nurses attend to patients in this historical photo of the children's ward inside Wheatley-Provident Hospital, a Black hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. It opened in 1918, but, like most Black hospitals, it closed following the federal campaign to desegregate hospitals in the 1960s.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Black hospitals vanished in the U.S. decades ago. Some communities have paid a price

Hundreds of Black hospitals in the U.S. closed after passage of the Civil Rights Act when health care became integrated. Black communities lost a source of employment and pride.

August 10, 2024
|
By:
  • Lauren Sausser
hospital portrait

Tagged as: 

  • Health

To stay open, rural hospitals need local patients. Two hospitals in Georgia hope to bring them back

Rural hospitals sometimes look for lifelines through consolidation with big city hospitals. Now a couple of rural hospitals in Middle Georgia are trying a grassroots approach emphasizing local ownership. And, they say, it’s working. 

 

August 07, 2024
|
By:
  • Sofi Gratas
Hospital road sign

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Report that includes Georgia shows new factors to consider in hospital financial risk

Recent publications point to differing estimates of how many hospitals are at risk, but consider ownership, profitability and debt as contributing factors.

May 15, 2024
|
By:
  • Sofi Gratas
Southwest Georgia Regional Medical Center

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

Southwest Georgia hospital could reopen with help from federal appropriations

A feasibility study underway will help decide the new model for the facility. Randolph County lost its only hospital in 2020 after decades in operation. 

April 01, 2024
|
By:
  • Sofi Gratas
Hospitals in rural America face a dire financial forecast. The government has an incentive plan to help them keep their emergency departments open, while shutting their inpatient services.

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

Federal fix for rural hospitals gets few takers so far

Just 18 facilities were converted into Rural Emergency Hospitals so far. Advocates and lawmakers say tweaks to the law are needed to widen the reach and keep health care in rural communities.

January 10, 2024
|
By:
  • Sarah Jane Tribble and
  • Tony Leys
Since 2010, 150 rural hospitals have closed in the United States. Hospital leaders say that Medicare Advantage pays slowly and sometimes not at all and that this could push more hospitals to the brink.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Medicare Advantage keeps growing. Tiny, rural hospitals say that's a huge problem

More than half of seniors choose private Medicare Advantage plans instead of traditional Medicare. As rural enrollment increases, many small-town hospitals say that threatens their viability.

October 17, 2023
|
By:
  • Sarah Jane Tribble
Georgia in Play with Leah Fleming

Tagged as: 

  • News

Georgia in Play: Taking care of yourself — body, mind and soul

This week on Georgia in Play, host Leah Fleming brings experts from around the state to discuss health — body, mind and soul.

September 22, 2023
|
By:
  • Leah Fleming ,
  • Natalie Mendenhall ,
  • and 1 more
irwin county hospital

Tagged as: 

  • Health

A new federal model for rural hospitals may help them stay open. So far, Georgia has only one

By converting to a Rural Emergency Hospital, existing rural hospitals commit to changing their model of care, with a focus on emergency medicine, in exchange for subsidies from the federal government.

September 15, 2023
|
By:
  • Sofi Gratas
A person holds up a flag during rally to protest the Trump administration's reported transgender proposal to narrow the definition of gender to male or female at birth, at City Hall in New York City, U.S., October 24, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

Political Rewind: SB 140 passes; Debate over rural hospitals; Atlanta preps for chance to host DNC

Wednesday at Political Rewind: The Legislature passed Senate Bill 140, which would block gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Will Gov. Brian Kemp sign the bill? Meanwhile: Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is pushing a bill on hospitals in rural Georgia that could benefit his family's business.

March 22, 2023
|
By:
  • Bill Nigut ,
  • Natalie Mendenhall ,
  • and 1 more

Tagged as: 

  • News

Georgia Today: Hawks president stepping down, Georgia's WWII Heritage City, NE Georgia airport rehab

On the Friday Dec. 23 edition of Georgia Today: the Atlanta Hawks' president is stepping down, Georgia has a new World War II Heritage City, Gainesville's airport is getting a makeover 

December 23, 2022
|
By:
  • Peter Biello and
  • Jeremy Powell
Rural communities with struggling hospitals often turn to outside investors willing to take over their health care centers. Some are willing to sell the hospitals for next to nothing to companies that promise to keep them running.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Buy a rural hospital for $100? Investors pick up struggling institutions for pennies

Some rural hospitals are in such bad shape, they're selling for next to nothing. One company is snapping several distressed or closed hospitals in rural Tennessee, hoping to turn a profit.

August 16, 2022
|
By:
  • Blake Farmer
Proposed hospital for Ringold

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

Can an out of state hospital system block a project in Georgia?

The Certificate of need for the $130 million project is being opposed by a health system based not in Georgia, but just across the state line in Tennessee.

April 15, 2022
|
By:
  • Andy Miller
  • Load More

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