Study ranks Georgia high in number of vulnerable rural hospitals

Georgia ties Mississippi for sixth among states for most rural hospitals at risk of closing at 18, according to a report by the health care advisory firm Chartis.

Texas heads the list, with 45 vulnerable hospitals, followed by Kansas (38), Nebraska (29), Oklahoma (22) and North Carolina (19).

Chartis reports half of the nation’s rural hospitals are running at a financial loss. In an effort to avoid closing, some hospitals have cut down on services. In Georgia, 23 rural hospitals have stopped offering chemotherapy over the past decade, said Michael Topchik, the study’s author.

The report identified Medicaid as an indicator that has a significant impact on rural hospitals’ vulnerability.

Supporters say expansion of the federal-state program that provides health coverage to the poor and disabled improves rural hospitals’ financial performance. Under Medicaid, hospitals are reimbursed for the care they’re obligated to give to people who lack insurance and are less able to pay their bills.

Georgia is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Instead, Gov. Brian Kemp last year began a limited Medicaid expansion that aims to offer coverage to more poor adults who meet requirements for work or other activities.

But enrollment has been meager, with about 3,500 Georgians signing up for the program out of 90,000 that Kemp aides hope to cover by the time it ramps up fully. Full expansion under the ACA could make at least 359,000 uninsured people in Georgia newly eligible for Medicaid, according to data from KFF, a nonprofit health research and journalism organization.