Rural hospitals are being adversely affected by short-term and long-term challenges related to financial and regulatory burdens such as sequestration, 340B payment reductions, declining patient volumes, and increases in the under and uninsured. This project distributed a web-based survey to all rural hospitals to assess the opinions of their executives about how they will respond to current and long-term challenges.

Publications

• Alternatives to Hospital Closure: Findings From a National Survey of CAH Executives
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 02/2021
  Despite the many challenges of operating a Critical Access Hospital (CAH), little research examines the perspectives of CAH executives on potential community healthcare options if the CAH closed. This brief provides policymakers with a better understanding of what CAH executives think about the viability of various alternatives to closure.
• Health System Challenges for Critical Access Hospitals: Findings From a National Survey of CAH Executives
  Policy Brief
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 02/2021
  Despite the numerous challenges of operating a Critical Access Hospital (CAH), there is little research examining the perspectives of CAH executives on potential community healthcare options if the CAH closed. This brief presents a subset of results from a national survey of CAH executive perspectives on pressing challenges.