Health
Hundreds of rural hospitals are in danger of shutting down, study finds: ‘At risk of closure'
Hundreds of hospitals in rural areas of the U.S. are at risk of closure, according to new data from Chartis, a Chicago health care advisory services firm.
A total of 141 rural hospitals have closed since 2010 — while another 453 are “at risk of closure,” according to a press release.
The seven states with the most hospitals vulnerable to closures include Texas (45), Kansas (38), Nebraska (29), Oklahoma (22), North Carolina (19), Georgia (18) and Mississippi (18), as listed in Becker’s Hospital Review.
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In Florida, Tennessee and Nebraska, more than 41% of rural hospitals are at risk of closure.
Between 31% to 40% of rural hospitals are at risk in Utah, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Hundreds of hospitals in rural areas of the U.S. are at risk of closure, according to new data from Chartis, a Chicago health care advisory services firm. (iStock)
In Wyoming, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Georgia, between 26% and 30% of rural hospitals are in danger of closing, the report stated.
Factors impacting closure risk
The analysis identified seven factors that have the biggest impact on a hospital’s risk of closure.
Two of those were the number of years a hospital has been operating without a profit and the amount of net patient revenue.
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The study also looked at the hospital’s average number of inpatients during the year — and the average daily need for skilled nursing facilities.
The remaining three factors include the hospital’s reliance on inpatient revenue, its share of Medicare outpatient charges and each hospital’s case mix index.
Among the rural hospitals that are still operating, an increasing number are dropping essential health services, including cancer treatments and maternal care, the data showed.
An emergency department physician noted that rural hospitals are extremely important for the country’s health care system. (iStock)
Approximately 43% of rural hospitals are operating at a financial deficit, Chartis found.
“As the urgency of the pandemic disappears, the return of policy-driven reimbursement cuts, population health disparities and the nurse staffing crisis will apply renewed pressure to the rural health safety net,” said Michael Topchik, national leader of The Chartis Center for Rural Health, in the release.
How closures impact patients
Dr. Kenneth Perry, an emergency department physician in South Carolina, was not involved in the Chartis analysis but noted that rural hospitals are extremely important for the country’s health care system.
“There are many patients who do not have access to primary care, but are within close enough proximity to rural hospitals, and obtain most of their care within those hospital systems,” he told Fox News Digital.
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“As economic pressures have increased for hospitals in the last few years, it has become increasingly difficult for these hospitals to stay financially profitable.”
Between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and private insurers, hospitals have faced “ever smaller” reimbursement amounts, Perry noted.
“Even with lowering reimbursement, operating costs have skyrocketed,” he added. “This makes it very difficult for rural hospitals to be profitable enough to stay open.”
“As the urgency of the pandemic disappears, the return of policy-driven reimbursement cuts, population health disparities and the nurse staffing crisis will apply renewed pressure to the rural health safety net,” the study author said. (iStock)
In areas where hospitals are forced to shutter, Perry warned that many patients will lose not just hospital care, but also access to emergency departments.
“Many patients, specifically low or under insured patients, use the emergency department as a source of primary care,” he said.
“As economic pressures have increased, it has become increasingly difficult for these hospitals to stay financially profitable.”
“With the closure of these hospitals, many patients will lose access to all of their medical care.”
Without a feasible solution, Perry said, many patients will be left without access to emergency services and primary care.
Impact of REH designation
Chartis’ new report aimed to determine the potential impact of the Rural Hospital Emergency (REH) designation. It was enacted by Congress in Dec. 2020 as a means of ensuring emergency medical services in rural hospitals that may lack the resources to offer them.
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When a hospital is designated as an REH, it is able to provide emergency department services, observation care and potentially some outpatient services as long as the patient’s stay doesn’t exceed an average of 24 hours, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website.
“With the closure of these hospitals, many patients will lose access to all of their medical care,” an emergency department physician warned. (Getty Images)
“For some hospitals, our data model suggests the REH designation will serve as a desperately needed relief valve to avoid closing and provide a significant reversal in fortune for the vulnerable communities they serve,” Topchik said in the release.
“But the decision to convert is highly nuanced, and as a result, we expect to see a relatively small number of hospitals embrace REH.”
There are 389 rural hospitals that Chartis identified as “most likely” to consider converting to REH status, with 77 designated as “ideal candidates.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Chartis and the American Hospital Association requesting additional comment.
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Feeling lonely may take a toll on older adults’ memory — but it may not speed up cognitive decline, according to a new study.
Researchers from Colombia, Spain and Sweden analyzed data from more than 10,000 adults ages 65 to 94 across 12 European countries and found those who reported higher levels of loneliness did worse on memory tests at the start of the study, according to research published this month in the journal Aging & Mental Health.
Over a seven-year period, however, memory decline occurred at a similar rate regardless of how lonely participants felt.
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“The finding that loneliness significantly impacted memory, but not the speed of decline in memory over time was a surprising outcome,” lead author Dr. Luis Carlos Venegas-Sanabria of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Universidad del Rosario said in a statement.
Loneliness may be linked to memory performance in older adults, a new study suggests. (iStock)
“It suggests that loneliness may play a more prominent role in the initial state of memory than in its progressive decline,” Venegas-Sanabria said, adding that the findings highlight the importance of addressing loneliness as a factor in cognitive performance.
The findings add to debate about whether loneliness contributes to dementia risk. While loneliness and social isolation are often considered risk factors for cognitive decline, research results have been mixed.
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The study looked at data from the long-running Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which tracked 10,217 older adults between 2012 and 2019. Participants were asked to recall words immediately and after a delay to measure memory performance.
Social isolation and loneliness could play a surprising role in cognitive health among seniors. (iStock)
Loneliness was assessed using three questions about how often participants felt isolated, left out or lacking companionship.
About 8% of participants reported high levels of loneliness at the outset. That group tended to be older, more likely to be female and more likely to have conditions such as depression.
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Researchers found that those with higher loneliness had lower scores on both immediate and delayed memory tests at baseline. Still, all groups — regardless of loneliness level — experienced similar declines in memory over time.
The results suggest loneliness may not directly accelerate the progression of memory loss, though it remains linked to poorer cognitive performance overall.
Researchers look at a brain scan at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Experts warn, however, that the findings should not be interpreted to mean loneliness is harmless.
“The finding that lonely older adults start with worse memory but don’t decline faster is actually the most interesting part of the paper, and I think it’s easy to misread,” said Jordan Weiss, Ph.D., a scientific advisor and aging expert at Assisted Living Magazine and a professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
“It likely means loneliness does its damage earlier in life, well before people show up in a study like this at 65-plus,” Weiss told Fox News Digital.
By older age, long-term social patterns may already be established, making it harder to detect when the effects of loneliness first took hold, an aging expert says. (iStock)
He suggested that by older age, long-term social patterns may already be established, making it harder to detect when the effects of loneliness first took hold.
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“By the time you’re measuring someone in their late 60s, decades of social connection patterns are already baked in,” he said.
Weiss, who was not involved in the research, added that loneliness may coincide with other health conditions, and noted that participants who felt more isolated also had higher rates of depression, high-blood pressure and diabetes. The link, he said, may reflect a cluster of health risks rather than a direct cause.
“While they can go hand-in-hand, it’s not clear that loneliness contributes to dementia,” a psychotherapist says. (iStock)
Amy Morin, a Florida-based psychotherapist and author, said the findings reflect a broader pattern in research on loneliness and brain health, and that the relationship may be more complex than it appears.
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“The evidence shows there’s a link between loneliness and cognitive decline but there’s no direct evidence of a cause and effect relationship,” she said. “So while they can go hand-in-hand, it’s not clear that loneliness contributes to dementia.”
Morin added that loneliness, which can fluctuate, may not be the root of the problem, but rather a symptom of other underlying mental or physical health issues.
Researchers suggested screening for loneliness be incorporated into routine cognitive assessments as one way to support healthy aging. (iStock)
She said staying socially and mentally engaged is crucial for overall brain health.
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“It’s important to be proactive about social activities,” Morin said. “Joining a book club, having coffee with a friend, or attending faith-based services can be a powerful way to maintain connections in older age.”
The researchers also suggested screening for loneliness be incorporated into routine cognitive assessments as one way to support healthy aging.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for comment.
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Research continues to uncover new details on how fasting may help extend life.
A new study published in the journal Nature Communications investigated how intermittent fasting can boost longevity in small worms often used in aging research.
Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas compared worms that were fed normally to those that underwent a 24-hour fast in early adulthood and were then fed again, according to a press release.
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The scientists measured a variety of factors, including stored fat, gene activity related to fat metabolism and lifespan.
The results showed that the life-boosting benefit did not depend on the fasting itself but on the body’s behavior after eating again.
Experts say sustainability is key when choosing a long-term weight-loss strategy. (iStock)
Study lead Peter Douglas, associate professor of molecular biology and a member of the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine at UT Southwestern, suggested that these discoveries “shift the focus toward a neglected side of the metabolic coin – the re-feeding phase.”
“Our data suggest that the health-promoting effects of intermittent fasting are not merely a product of the fast itself, but are dependent on how the metabolic machinery recalibrates during the subsequent transition back to a fed state,” he said.
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“Our findings bridge a gap between lipid metabolism and aging research,” he added. “By targeting aging, the single greatest risk factor for human disease, we move beyond treating isolated conditions toward a preventive model of medicine that enhances quality of life for all individuals.”
Lauri Wright, director of nutrition programs at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health, called this a “high-quality” study that adds an “important nuance to how we think about fasting and longevity.”
Intermittent fasting typically involves limiting meals to an eight-hour daily window or fasting every other day. (iStock)
The benefits of the refeeding phase after fasting were “especially interesting,” Wright, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
“The researchers showed that longevity was linked to the body’s ability to turn off fat breakdown after fasting, allowing cells to restore energy balance,” she reiterated.
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“From a scientific standpoint, that’s a meaningful shift because it suggests fasting is not just about burning fat, but about metabolic flexibility.”
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Fasting may support longevity through triggering metabolic switching, enhancing cellular repair and stress resistance and improving markers like insulin sensitivity, research shows.
Limitations and cautions
Although this study provides “important insight” on the power of refeeding, Wright noted that the findings should be approached with caution, as the study was done on worms and cannot always be translated to humans.
“Additionally, it explains how a process might work in a controlled lab condition rather than real-world eating behaviors,” she added as a limitation. “Finally, the study is short-term and doesn’t give us the long-term translation on lifespan outcomes.”
The review found intermittent fasting was barely more effective than doing nothing, according to the study authors. (iStock)
Wright cautioned that fasting is “not a magic solution for longevity, and how you eat overall matters more than when you eat.”
“I advise, first and foremost, to focus on diet quality, including a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and minimally processed foods,” she said.
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For those who are considering fasting, it’s better to stick with a moderate plan — like a 12- to 14-hour overnight fast — rather than going to extremes, Wright said. After fasting, she recommends focusing on well-balanced meals.
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Several groups of people should be cautioned against fasting, according to Wright, including those with diabetes who are on insulin or hypoglycemic medications, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, anyone with a history of eating disorders and older adults at risk of malnutrition.
Anyone considering intermittent fasting should consult with a doctor before starting.
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