Rural, independent hospitals are teaming up to keep from shutting down, joining large health systems or reducing services, NPR reported Sept. 2.
What to know:
1. Since 2010, about 153 rural hospitals have closed or stopped offering inpatient services, according to the Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina. An additional 441 merged with or were acquired by systems between 2011 and 2021.
2. Independent, rural hospitals increasingly are joining clinically integrated networks: collaborative groups that allow them to combine their patient rolls for value-based care contracts. This includes shared contracts for telehealth, prescription drug programs, employee health insurance plans, and other services. Some networks also share specialists who are not needed full time at any one hospital.
3. These networks — which are nonprofits owned by the hospitals — have been organized in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana and Ohio. They are often aided by companies that launch and manage the networks.
4. Similar networks have existed for more than 30 years, but became popular after the 2010 Affordable Care Act went into effect, the Rand Corp. found.
5. Hospitals in these networks say they reduced insurance costs, improved patient outcomes, reduced need for inpatient and emergency care, and helped a significant number of patients catch up on preventive care.
6. North Dakota’s Rough Rider Network includes 22 independent, rural hospitals across the state, which combined serve about two-thirds of rural North Dakotans. The network provides leverage to its members, which has allowed them to negotiate better prices with healthcare vendors and share expensive equipment such as a mobile MRI machine. The network launched in late 2023 with $3.5 million from the state legislature.
