Sarah Jane Tribble

Just 18 facilities were converted into Rural Emergency Hospitals so far. Advocates and lawmakers say tweaks to the law are needed to widen the reach and keep health care in rural communities.

More than half of American counties don’t have an obstetrician. Family physicians, working in teams with proper support, could be the answer to the crisis in rural obstetric care.

More than half of seniors choose private Medicare Advantage plans instead of traditional Medicare. As rural enrollment increases, many small-town hospitals say that threatens their viability.

Dollar General’s primary care experiment could help solve rural America’s care shortage. But it’s getting a chilly reception in Tennessee.

The federal loans were meant to help hospitals survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet they’re coming due now — at a time when many rural hospitals are still desperate for help.

America’s rural hospitals were struggling even before the pandemic. Now, the loss of revenue from months of deferred treatments and surgeries have pulled more to the brink, as federal relief fades.

Nearly 20 rural hospitals closed in 2019, more than any year in the past decade. And more are expected to close. These rural hospitals often see too few patients to pay for their costs.

Anger and fear have turned to pragmatic hope in the year since the people of Fort Scott, Kan., lost their hospital to corporate downsizing. A community health center remains. So far, so good.

The loss of the longtime hospital in Fort Scott, Kan., has forced a change in the way ER care is provided, including a greater reliance on air ambulances.

As the rural town of Fort Scott, Kan., grapples with the closure of its hospital, cancer patients bear a heavy burden. They now have to go elsewhere for treatments they used to get locally.