Five rural hospitals are expected to close immediately. Overall, they've struggled with rising costs, staffing shortages, inflation and fewer but sicker patients.

Two years ago, Bucktail Medical Center, the only hospital in rural Clinton County, was on the verge of closure.

One of the smallest hospitals in Pennsylvania, Bucktail was beset by increasing operating costs and financial challenges.

A $1 million grant from the state helped stave off the closure. In 2023, the hospital reported $7.09 million in revenue and $9.2 million in expenses, tax records show.

  • NABDad@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    6·
    7 months ago

    Unfortunately, they’ll be taking a lot of innocent people with them.

    It is difficult to drum up a lot of sympathy when the state representatives the rural citizens vote for vote against supporting the small hospitals that keep the rural citizens alive.

    I heard about the hospital from a This American Life episode that reported on the hospital CEO’s efforts to save it.

    https://www.thisamericanlife.org/817/the-cavalry-is-not-coming

    It was heartbreaking. The CEO mentioned personally loaning money to the hospital, and trying to hope that the hospital would be able to pay him back.