Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
The Quiet Crisis Of Rural Hospital Closures
Bloomberg: Hospitals Closing Across U.S. Leave Patients With No Options
A quiet crisis is unfolding for U.S. hospitals, with bankruptcies and closures threatening to leave some of the country’s most vulnerable citizens without care. As a gauge of distress in the health-care sector has soared, at least 30 hospitals entered bankruptcy in 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. They range from Hahnemann University Hospital in downtown Philadelphia to De Queen Medical Center in rural Sevier County, Arkansas and Americore Health LLC, a company built on preserving rural hospitals. (Coleman-Lochner and Hill, 1/9)
Kaiser Health News: High-Deductible Plans Jeopardize Financial Health Of Patients And Rural Hospitals
Kristie Flowers had been sick with the flu for four or five days in July before the 52-year-old registered nurse from Genoa, Colo., acknowledged she needed to go to the ER. At Lincoln Community Hospital, about 10 miles from her home on the Eastern Plains of Colorado, doctors quickly diagnosed her with pneumonia and sepsis. Her right lung had completely filled with fluid, and Flowers needed much more intensive care than the 15-bed hospital could provide. (Hawryluk, 1/10)
Past KHN coverage: Coping With Loss Of Hospital, Rural Town Realizes: We Don’t Need A Hospital
In other hospital news —
Houston Chronicle: Shriners Children’s To Close In Houston, Consolidate In Galveston
Shriners Hospital for Children in the Texas Medical Center is planning to close in 2021, officials said Thursday, part of an effort to consolidate all its area care at the charity system’s Galveston facility. The closure, which will end Shriners’ 100-year presence in Houston, will mean all four specialty care departments — acute burns, orthopedic conditions, spinal injuries and cleft lip and palate abnormalities — will be provided in Galveston. Currently, the burn unit is in Galveston and the other three are in Houston. (Ackerman, 1/9)
Modern Healthcare: Astria Health To Close Its Yakima, Wash., Hospital
Astria Health will close its medical center in Yakima, Wash., as the company restructures through Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Washington approved the closure of the 214-bed facility that includes a Level I cardiac and Level II stroke center on Wednesday. Astria Regional Medical Center employs about 500 workers across 14 affiliated clinics. (Kacik, 1/9)
