News: Hospitals, health systems critical for rural communities, AHA says

The American Health Association (AHA) has released a report—Analysis: Hospitals and health systems are critical to preserving access to care for rural communities—underscoring the importance of hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) in the rural setting.

The report highlights the economic difficulties of rural hospitals, noting that rural care “can be more costly on a per patient basis as patients in rural communities tend to have more complex health needs, are much more likely to be uninsured, and are more likely to rely on public programs when they do have coverage.”

Nevertheless, despite these difficulties hospitals have “disproportionately” stepped up to support care needs in rural areas, the AHA said.

Here are some highlights from the report:

• For patients from counties where 90% or more of the population lives in a rural area, 36% of physician visits are provided through an HOPD.
• Medicare beneficiaries that are dually eligible for Medicaid are more reliant upon HOPDs for outpatient care than non-duals (40% for dual-eligibility versus 32% non-dual).
• Among dual-eligible beneficiaries, and those who accessed care through an HOPD, 72% had a complication or co-morbidity (CC), with the average HOPD patient carrying an average of 5.2 CCs.

The report concluded by noting that the “additional site-neutral funding cuts being considered by Congress would have a direct impact on the level of care and services available to vulnerable patients in these communities.”

Editor’s note: To read the AHA report, click here.