More rural Kansas hospitals are at risk of immediate closure than in any other state. That’s according to a recent report by the non-profit policy organization Centers for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. It found that out of the about 100 rural Kansas hospitals analyzed, 69 are at risk of closure and 28 are at immediate risk.
Kansas comes second to Texas, which has 26 rural hospitals at risk of immediate closure. In Missouri, 28 hospitals are at risk of closing and 11 are at immediate risk. Nationwide, the report found 294 rural hospitals are immediately at risk of closing.
Cindy Samuelson is senior vice president of the Kansas Hospital Association.
She said one big issue rural hospitals in Kansas are facing is an increase in expenses. Inflation has raised costs, including staffing, pharmaceuticals and supplies. Hospitals are feeling the impact.
But she said fixed reimbursement rates mean hospital income is hard to raise.
“Everybody's been seeing an uptick in expenses, even their personal home expenses,” she said. “We can't really just raise or increase our prices to impact that inflation.”
Additionally, Samuelson said hospitals are struggling with low reimbursement rates from Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance.
“The number one thing they're struggling with is reimbursement from payers,” she said. “Adequate reimbursement would make a huge difference in our healthcare system today.”
Add in the fact that Kansas has a lot of rural hospitals, and it helps explain the high ranking.
“So when you look at reports like this and you look at rankings, you’ve got to look at the states that have a lot of rural hospitals,” she said.
To determine what hospitals are at risk of closing, the report looked at numbers including a hospital’s profit or loss margin, Medicare costs, and payments from Medicaid and private insurance.
The report said hospital closures can cause great harm to rural communities. It said hospitals don’t just provide inpatient services. Sometimes, rural hospitals are the main source of primary care, imaging services or laboratory testing for a community.
When hospitals close, people are forced to leave their community for care, which sometimes means a long drive.
The report also said that a lack of healthcare can hurt rural economies.
“Rural hospital closures threaten the nation’s food supply and energy production, because farms, ranches, mines, drilling sites, wind farms, and solar energy facilities are located primarily in rural areas, and they will not be able to attract and retain workers if health care isn’t available in the community,” the report reads.
While the hospitals are in a difficult spot, it might not be as bad as the report makes it appear.
Samuelson said while many rural Kansas hospitals are struggling, it’s important to understand that the report did not analyze all of the ways rural hospitals are financed. She said many rural communities in Kansas support their hospitals through county and city taxes.
“Some of these studies don't really take into play all those local dollars that are keeping their hospital open,” she said. “So the hospital may be doing okay with that support.”
Samuelson said that support could go away or change, which is likely why the report did not cite it.
Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga reports on health care disparities and access for the Kansas News Service. You can email her at r.shackelford@kcur.org.
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