Yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee, the most powerful committee in the House of Representative, introduced the H.R. 5273, the Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act of 2016. While NRHA appreciates the efforts of the Committee to focus on hospital concerns, especially the extension of the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program, the Committee once again missed a critical opportunity to address the escalating rural hospital closure crisis.
Seventy-three rural hospitals have closed since 2010. The most recent closed yesterday. These closures leave 1.2 million rural Americans without access to their local emergency room and 11,000 rural health providers unemployed. Hospital closings are occurring in some of the poorest, neediest rural communities in the nation. The rate of closures escalates, yet the Committee remains idle. At the current rate of closure, 25% of all rural hospitals will be closed in less than 10 years. NRHA urges the Ways and Means Committee to take action now and act on H.R. 3225, the Save Rural Hospitals Act.