This project will extend an existing model of CAH financial distress to other types of rural hospitals. A valid model would be helpful to ORHP and state Offices of rural Health interested in predicting financial distress or closure of rural hospitals.

Publications

• Geographic Variation in Risk of Financial Distress Among Rural Hospitals
  Policy Brief
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 01/2016
  From 2005 to 2015, 112 rural hospital closures have been identified. The closures impact millions of rural residents. This brief describes the geographic variation in the proportion of rural hospitals forecasted to be at high risk of distress in 2015.
• Prediction of Financial Distress Among Rural Hospitals
  Policy Brief
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 01/2016
  From 2005 to 2015, more than 100 rural hospitals have closed their doors to patients in need of inpatient services. To understand factors affecting rural hospital financial distress and to develop an early warning system to identify hospitals at risk, the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program developed the Financial Distress Index.
• Trends in Risk of Financial Distress Among Rural Hospitals
  Policy Brief
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 10/2016
  From January 2005 to July 2016, 118 rural hospitals have closed permanently, and the rate of rural hospital closures is increasing. Hospital closures impact millions of rural residents. Identifying hospitals at high risk of closure and assessing the trends over time may inform strategies to prevent or mitigate the effects of closures.