Rural hospitals face challenges involving limited finances and workforce under the implementation of the healthcare reform law, according to a new AHA Trendwatch report.
These hospitals provide high-quality care while tackling the challenges due of their location, small size, limited workforce and constrained financial resources, the report noted.
“Rural hospitals are a vital yet vulnerable component of the American healthcare system,” the report said. “Additional accommodations must be made so that rural hospitals can benefit [from the health reform law].” The report added: “For those provisions to meet the unique needs of rural America, rural hospitals must remain a focus of lawmakers.”
Read the AHA Trendwatch report on rural hospitals (pdf).
Read more coverage of challenges that rural hospitals face:
– Bill to Overturn Ban on Physician Employment at Rural Hospitals Moves to Texas Senate
