At a time when rural hospitals are being knocked down, let’s be clear: funding is not the problem for rural hospitals — consolidation is.

Rural hospitals continue to close at alarming rates—not because they’re underperforming, but because they’re being pushed out by larger health systems that treat them as expendable.

These hospitals work tirelessly to serve their communities, often with limited resources and staff. Yet when corporate systems take over, they cut services, centralize operations, and strip away local control—all in the name of “efficiency.”

The result? Communities are left without care.

Hospitals that were once anchors of local health and employment are shut down not due to financial failure, but because they no longer fit into a profit-first strategy.

When a rural hospital closes, the entire community suffers: access to care disappears, jobs are lost, and long-standing health gaps worsen.

Rural healthcare doesn’t need more consolidation. It needs support and long-term investment. Better Solutions will continue to advocate for patients who have been left behind by corporate hospital systems.