Don’t get sick if you live in the country

If you live in a rural area you may want to look after yourself more seriously.

Why? According to a report from the Chartis Group there have been more than 135 rural hospital closures in the past 12 years and notably, this trend slowed last year as relief aid, because of the pandemic, brought an element of stability to this beleaguered health care provision. Note, there were almost 40 closures from 2019 to 2020 but only two last year.

This is not a surprise because $12 billion was available from a variety of relief and aid programs. These included the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act, alongside the Accelerated and Advance Payment program. Although these funds were very welcome unfortunately this does not take rural hospitals out of the red. In fact, almost 50% of rural hospitals polled were having to function with reduced cash flow and/or an overdraft.

Why are rural hospitals struggling so much?

There are some very important reasons why rural medical organizations are not in good health. There are negative pressures and sadly staffing is at the heart of these. Some of these rural hospitals are a long way from urban centers and consequently recruitment is an issue. Also, if staff decide to take up employment there is a problem retaining them. Practicing in a rural hospital can be challenging. Government policies generate consequences that were never intended and there are often considerable health disparities in rural locations.?

A short while ago we commissioned an e-book about rural healthcare. If you would like a copy please go to the comments section.

The crisis is only set to deepen

With some semblance of normality returning to everyday life, just before the end of 2021, Congress made the decision to extend the sequester. This means a reduction of 2% in Medicare reimbursement. This will continue until the end of March and then another 1% reduction will begin from the 1st of April until the end of June. A full 2% reduction moving forward will come into effect on the first of July 2022.?The impact of that will mean that rural hospitals will witness a reduction of almost $230 billion. Inevitably this lack of available funding will cost almost 5000 jobs every year.?You can only begin to imagine the impact on patient care and staff morale. Image Hayden Scott

As I have discussed in other articles, we are experiencing a profound shortage of providers and other medical professionals. At PX3 we are working very hard to find quality staff to fill these vacancies. If you want to get ahead of these issues.?Please reach out immediately. ?

Although hospitals in rural locations have said that they will find more financial resources to deal with medical staffing needs, I can’t help feeling that the picture is rather bleak. The one solution that has had some impact is the use of peripatetic or travelling nursing staff. This will not solve everything and because rural hospitals are less attractive than big urban institutions one can only imagine that services will be further suspended because of staff shortages.

What is the solution, therefore?

Professionals that join the medical professions are keen to help their fellow man. Therefore, perhaps it’s time to change how we train, attract, recruit and retain staff. The burn and churn approach has never been appropriate, but we have seen it time and again. Perhaps it might be worth thinking about the qualities Gen Z are exhibiting and thinking about how we might build in more sympathetic and empathic work experiences to accommodate their world view.

We have all seen how much pressure medical staff are under and maybe creating work schedules that are less intense and stressful might help. There are many benefits of working in a more rural environment and post pandemic these locations may well have their own special attraction. How we write job descriptions and create marketing materials that are more about the individuals applying than just the medical organization is a start. Image Luis Melendez

With a program of education, alternative clinics, more use of AI for more routine medical issues then a total transformation of how we look after both staff and patients may well be possible. It just needs a complete transformation of mindset and the abandonment of legacy thinking. What do you think?