rural hospitals

The program is meant to soften the coming cuts to Medicaid. The state health department recently announced the first round of Kansas grantees. Hospitals are using the money to increase healthcare access to rural patients.

In April, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Texas A&M University Health Sciences Center hosted a tour of a clinic built in a retrofitted shipping container in Burton, Texas. It's the latest collaboration in an ongoing effort to bring community-run clinics to rural areas, where access is harder to achieve.

Rural Kansans could see longer drives to access healthcare or fewer health services because of hospital closures. A report found that Kansas has 28 rural hospitals at immediate risk of closure.

Congress established the rural emergency hospital designation to provide financial stability to facilities amid growing concerns over closures. The goal is to maintain access to outpatient and emergency services in rural communities.

Texas is in the process of planning for the future of its state hospitals. Some advocates and families said Texas needs to improve capacity and access as demand for services grows.

Nearly 2,000 Oklahomans die from stroke-related complications annually. That burden is felt more in rural communities, where access to specialized care is limited.

The Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform, a national policy organization, found 68 rural Kansas hospitals are at risk of closing, including 30 at immediate risk. Revenue isn't keeping up with costs.

These state hospitals can't find full-time staff. Contract nurses are needed to serve patients, but expenses keep going up.

A clerical error led to the revenue being returned to cities instead.

Alongside the passage of billions of dollars in Medicaid spending reductions over a decade, Oklahoma is also vying for an opportunity available to all 50 states to fund sustainable rural health care initiatives.