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Rural hospital closures strain community ambulance services
Rural hospital closures force patients in affected communities to travel longer distances for specialized or emergency care. A new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health shows that such closures place similar strain on emergency medical service (EMS) providers trying to get patients to the hospital or another facility as quickly as possible.
EMS services in rural areas are provided by municipal agencies – such as police, firefighting and community volunteer organizations – or private companies that bid to offer transportation for a contracted period of time.
To learn more, Nikpay and her research team searched publically available data for the locations of recent rural hospital closures across the U.S occurring in 2012-2018 and the names of EMS providers in those counties. The researchers then scoured Medicare payment data for EMS trip charges to patients in those areas during that t