There are 703 rural hospitals, representing 30% of the total — that are at risk of closing because of financial problems, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform (CHQPR). And 360 of them are at risk of immediate shutters.

According to CHQPR, rural hospitals have encountered difficulties over at least the last 10 years. In that period, more than 100 closed. Since 2023, more than two dozen eliminated inpatient services to qualify for federal grants available only to Rural Emergency Hospitals, ending the roughly 7,000 inpatient treatments they provided annually.

In percentages of total rural hospitals at risk of closing, the top 10 states were Connecticut (67%), Kansas (63%), Vermont (62%), Hawaii (62%), New York (56%), Alabama (54%), Arkansas (54%), Mississippi (52%), Texas (50%), and Oklahoma (50%).