If policymakers use market-based approaches to solve healthcare access problems, they need a better understanding of how rural markets work, says one researcher. A lack of competition among health insurers in rural areas has reduced the ability of market-based approaches to increase insurance enrollment, a new study says. The Affordable […]

A Trump administration proposal calls for increasing Medicare reimbursements for some rural hospitals by taking money from hospitals in major urban areas. Both opponents and proponents of the measure say the entire Medicare reimbursement system needs an overhaul. While proposed changes to Medicare reimbursements to hospitals may keep some rural […]

Citizens were concerned. They voiced those concerns. And it appears their voices were heard. When it was announced in August that Nashville-based HCA Healthcare had reached a deal to purchase Mission Health, many residents of Western North Carolina – most particularly those in the region’s rural communities – had trepidations […]

This is the second story in a two-part series about the sale of  North Carolina’s Mission Health to the national HCA Healthcare.  Read the first part of the series here. As North Carolina’s attorney general deliberates over whether to approve the sale of the nonprofit Mission Health System to for-profit Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA, a citizens group is asking that, if approved, the deal ensure they have a voice in the future of health care services in their rural communities.  The Mission system covers 18 mostly rural Western […]

On December 13, a full page ad in the Highlands Newspaper, in Highlands, North Carolina, was headlined: “Bringing a new state-of-the-art Angel Medical Center. Investing in the future of healthcare in western North Carolina.” The ad was purchased by Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare, a for-profit hospital system that owns 178 […]