Rural Hospitals Are Sinking Under COVID-19 Financial Pressures

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August 22nd, 2020

When the pandemic hit this spring, U.S. rural hospitals lost an estimated 70% of their income as patients avoided the emergency room, doctor’s appointments and elective surgeries. “It was devastating,” says Maggie Elehwany of the National Rural Health Association.

Jerome Antone says he is one of the lucky ones.

After becoming ill with COVID-19, Antone was hospitalized only 65 miles away from his small Alabama town. He is the mayor of Georgiana — population 1,700.

“It hit our rural community so rabid,” Antone says. The town’s hospital closed last year. If hospitals in nearby communities don’t have beds available, “you may have to go four or five hours away.”

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