Varying Trends In The Financial Viability Of US Rural Hospitals, 2011–17

The financial viability of rural hospitals has been a matter of serious concern, with ongoing closures affecting rural residents’ access to medical services. We examined the financial viability of 1,004 US rural hospitals that had consistent rural status in 2011–17. The median overall profit margin improved for nonprofit critical access hospitals (from 2.5 percent to 3.2 percent) but declined for other hospitals (from 3.0 percent to 2.6 percent...