More than 75 percent of rural hospitals in Tennessee are at high risk of closure in the next few years, according to Fox affiliate WZTV in a Feb. 10 report, citing advocacy group the Tennessee Healthcare Campaign.
Much of the risk comes from steep costs such hospitals bear because of uncompensated care, the report says.
"The main thing I want to say is that rural hospitals are drowning under uncompensated care," said Judy Roitman, the group's executive director. "They are required to see patients who show up sick at their doors, but there's too many people who have no insurance at all."
Solutions to the state's hospital crisis divide such advocacy groups and legislators.
While Roitman called for the expansion of Medicaid, elected Tennessee representatives said the focus should be on issues such as reducing reliance on government-funded healthcare and pushing for further deregulation.
"Anything we can do to help cut down some of the regulations that we have, I am all for it," said State Sen. Mark Purdy, a Republican. "One of them is the certificate of need opportunities where some physicians would like to, or people would like to open up some more medical practices."
The push to reduce certificate of need requirements is also at play in Georgia, where opponents say such a move would actually make rural hospital closures more likely.