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Bucking a dismal trend, a few rural towns are building new hospitals (www.usatoday.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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After receiving federal funding, a remote Wyoming community is bucking closure trends throughout the rural U.S. and building its own hospital. It's not the only one.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What changed so that hospitals are closing in the first place?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Rural hospitals aren't as profitable, so privately held hospitals have been closing so the company can invest money where they make more money per dollar spent.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That's usually the answer, but it also begs the question why aren't they as profitable as they used to be?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Some might be as profitable/unpredictable as they used to be, but urban/suburban areas are still much more profitable areas for hospitals to operate.

The reality of rural areas is that by their nature there just aren't as many people there

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Yeah i came up with a few possible explanations:

Corporate strategic decision to cut less profitable hospitals.
Reduced population from people moving to the cities.
Changes in billing or insurance that reduce profitability.

Or some combination of these.