- Community Health Workers Spread Across the US, Even in Rural Areas
- Idaho Gained Nurses. But Not Enough To Deal with Retirements and Population Boom.
- CMS Announces New Policies to Reduce Maternal Mortality, Increase Access to Care, and Advance Health Equity
- USDA Partners With White House, National Rural Water Association to Strengthen Cybersecurity for Rural Water Systems
- On-Call Maternity Care in Rural Arizona Boosted by AHCCCS Funding
- Ask an Expert: Solutions to Social Isolation in Rural Communities
- Share Your Rural Health Story in Honor of National Rural Health Day
- On Navajo Nation, a Push to Electrify More Homes on the Vast Reservation
- Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Visits North Carolina to Highlight Federal Resources Available to Help Farmers, Families and Communities Recover from Hurricane Helene
- Pratt Is the Latest Kansas Town Facing Nitrate Pollution. One-Quarter of Its Water Supply Is Off
- NRHA Releases 2024 Compendium of Best Practices for Rural Age-Friendly Care
- Northern Forest Center Focuses on Rural Middle-Income Housing Needs
- Medical Academy Serves High School Students and Their Communities
- Rural Georgians Face Long Distances to Maternity Care - Community Clinics Can Help Fill the Gaps
- FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Support North Carolina's Hurricane Recovery
All of Us Expands Its Rural Reach
The NIH’s All of Us national population health program is increasing its rural presence.
Where you live affects how you feel. Because everything around you contributes to your health. That includes the food you eat, the places where you spend your days, and the air you breathe. Or how far you live from medical care.
That is a central idea of the All of Us Research Program. Enrolling people from different backgrounds and neighborhoods is the key to precision medicine.
People who live in rural areas have unique experiences to share. All of Us already has more than 70,000 participants who live in rural areas. That’s about 9% of our participants. But 20% of people in the United States live in rural areas. So we know we can do more.
The Heartland Consortium is a new group of All of Us enrollment partners in four Midwestern states. The group came together last year and is already enrolling people in All of Us.
To learn more about All of Us, click here.
A Few Rural Towns Are Bucking the Trend and Building New Hospitals
There’s a new morning ritual in Pinedale, Wyoming, a town of about 2,000 nestled against the Wind River Mountains.
Friends and neighbors in the oil- and gas-rich community “take their morning coffee and pull up” to watch workers building the county’s first hospital, said Kari DeWitt, the project’s public relations director.
“I think it’s just gratitude,” DeWitt said.
Sublette County is the only one in Wyoming — where counties span thousands of square miles — without a hospital. The 10-bed, 40,000-square-foot hospital, with a similarly sized attached long-term care facility, is slated to open by the summer of 2025.
DeWitt, who also is executive director of the Sublette County Health Foundation, has an office at the town’s health clinic with a window view of the construction.
Pinedale’s residents have good reason to be excited. New full-service hospitals with inpatient beds are rare in rural America, where declining population has spurred decades of downsizing and closures. Yet, a few communities in Wyoming and others in Kansas and Georgia are defying the trend.
“To be honest with you, it even seems strange to me,” said Wyoming Hospital Association President Eric Boley. Small rural “hospitals are really struggling all across the country,” he said.
New Self-Paced Course Focuses on Dental Care and Pregnancy Launched
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists created a new self-paced course focusing on the need for routine dental care before and during pregnancy. Pregnant patients experience gaps in care, which can lead to suboptimal perinatal outcomes and overlooked oral health needs. There is 1 CEU available for dental providers.
Pennsylvania Oral Health Coalition Honored with 2024 Highmark Bright Blue Futures Rising Star Recognition
PCOH is thrilled to announce that our coalition has been named a 2024 Highmark Bright Blue Futures Rising Star!
The Highmark Bright Blue Futures Awards Program recognizes extraordinary nonprofit organizations that are advancing health equity across Pennsylvania, western and northeastern New York, West Virginia, and Delaware. The program launched in 2023 as an expansion of Highmark’s corporate giving and community involvement program, Highmark Bright Blue Futures, and was designed to recognize those making significant impact in the community. Nearly 250 organizations applied this year.
Thank you to Highmark for this amazing opportunity!
CMS Releases Guidance on Health Coverage for Children and Youth Enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released comprehensive guidance to support states in ensuring the 38 million children with Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage – nearly half of the children in this country – receive the full range of health care services they need.
Under Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) requirements, eligible children and youth are entitled to a comprehensive array of prevention, diagnostic, and treatment services — including well-child visits, mental health services, dental, vision, and hearing services. These requirements are designed to ensure that children receive medically necessary health care services early, so that health problems are averted, or diagnosed and treated as early as possible. Because of the EPSDT requirements, Medicaid provides some of the most comprehensive health coverage in the country for children and youth.
The guidance issued today reinforces the EPSDT requirements and highlights strategies and best practices for states in implementing those requirements. This guidance, which was required by section 11004 of Title I of Division A of Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) (P.L. 117–159), is the most comprehensive EPSDT guidance that CMS has released in a decade and is a critical step to ensuring the health of children.
“We need to make sure our children have what they need to stay well. Medicaid makes that possible,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “This guidance to our states today will help millions of kids get the services that are crucial to their health and development, no matter where they live.”
“Our children are the future. They deserve the very best care possible and CMS is committed to ensuring that our nation’s children and youth get the right care, at the right time, in the right setting,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “The implementation of the EPSDT requirements, in partnership with states, is vital to the tens of millions of children in the nation who are covered by Medicaid and CHIP. We’ll keep working until every child can get the care they need, when they need it.”
Today’s guidance is a critical step in CMS’ efforts to strengthen the Medicaid and CHIP programs across the country. The guidance clearly explains the statutory and regulatory EPSDT requirements, and suggests best practices across key areas, including increasing access to services through transportation and care coordination, expanding the children-focused workforce, improving care for children with specialized needs (including children in the child welfare system and children with disabilities), and expanding awareness among families of their children’s rights under the EPSDT requirements.
The EPSDT guidance also includes information to help address the needs of children with behavioral health conditions. Youth in the United States are experiencing a mental health crisis, research shows. The EPSDT guidance includes a series of strategies and best practices that states can use to meet children’s and youth’s behavioral health needs. For example, it suggests that states create a children’s behavioral health benefit package and support the management of children and youth with mild to moderate behavioral health needs in primary care settings. States must provide coverage for an array of medically necessary mental health and SUD services along the care continuum – including in children’s own homes, schools and communities — in order to meet their EPSDT obligation. This work builds on the HHS Roadmap to Behavioral Health Integration, which outlines the Department’s commitment to providing the full spectrum of integrated, equitable, evidence-based, culturally appropriate, and person-centered behavioral health care to the populations it serves, and builds on the President’s Unity Agenda to advance mental health.
The EPSDT requirements play a crucial role in the long road to achieving health equity by helping to provide access to essential care for children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. The guidance released today is one important step in the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to child health and access to affordable, quality health coverage for all, and is part of CMS’ broader strategy to ensure that children have the comprehensive and high-quality care they need. Beyond the importance of the EPSDT requirements, Medicaid more broadly is vital for ensuring the health of America’s youth. A new HHS report, Medicaid: The Health and Economic Benefits of Expanding Eligibility, by researchers in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) examines the impact of Medicaid throughout its six decades and highlights the importance of Medicaid coverage for low-income children. Studies show that access to Medicaid coverage is associated with a significant improvement in health and mortality that continues beyond childhood. In addition to improved health outcomes, children with Medicaid have improved educational and economic outcomes.
Federal Legislation Proposed to Support Rural Opioid Response
Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) introduced the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) Authorization Act with Representatives Terri Sewell (D-AL), Buddy Carter (R-GA), and Ann Kuster (D-NH). The RCORP Authorization Act will establish and expand prevention, treatment, and recovery services in rural areas for opioid users.
“Ensuring there are enough resources for those who are suffering from addiction is a top priority for me. As a representative for a rural district, I have seen firsthand how important it is for my constituents to have access to quality health care. The Rural Communities Opioid Response Program provides funding to rural communities that are in need of recovery facilities, and the program should be authorized to provide certainty for communities and providers. I thank my colleagues for partnering with me on this bipartisan issue to establish addiction prevention services in the most rural areas of the United States,” said Congresswoman Miller.
“The opioid epidemic doesn’t discriminate. As we see in Alabama, it affects people of every background and every zip code, urban and rural. By authorizing the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, we can take critical steps toward expanding prevention, treatment, and recovery services for opioid users in rural communities. I’m grateful to be part of the bipartisan group of lawmakers working to make that happen,” said Congresswoman Sewell.
“The opioid epidemic is a nationwide crisis that especially impacts rural communities. As a pharmacist and representative for a rural district, I understand the importance of ensuring that all Americans have access to prevention, treatment, and recovery services. Formally authorizing the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program will save lives in districts like mine. I am proud to work in a bipartisan manner to ensure continued access to these vital health care resources,” said Congressman Carter.
“From health care workforce shortages to limited access to treatment and recovery services, rural communities in New Hampshire and across the country have been hit particularly hard by the addiction and overdose crisis. Ending the substance use disorder epidemic calls for an all-of-the-above government response, and the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program will help ensure that even our most rural communities have access to the resources and support they need to save lives,” said Congresswoman Kuster.
“Substance use, including opioid use, is exacerbated in rural America by a lack of access to care and treatment. The Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) is a grant program aimed at alleviating this gap by establishing and expanding prevention, treatment, and recovery services. NRHA applauds the efforts of Representatives Miller, Sewell, Carter, and Kuster for their introduction of the RCORP Authorization Act and their continual leadership on rural issues,” said Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association.
“Rural communities have been uniquely tested by the opioid epidemic. Limited care options, transportation issues, and incomplete support systems along with barriers to reintegration into the workforce have created unique barriers on the road to recovery. The RCORP program has been critical in deploying needed resources to these communities while promoting unique collaborations that provide patient-centered care. As such, we enthusiastically support the continuation of this vital program,” said David Gozal, M.D., M.B.A., Ph.D. (Hon), Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University.
”On behalf of the 50 State Offices of Rural Health, we are thrilled to see Reps. Carol Miller, Ann Kuster, and Buddy Carter introduce the RCORP Authorization Bill of 2024. The RCORP grant program has been a lifeline for Rural population in West Virginia, New Hampshire, Georgia and all 50 states. If passed into law this bill solidifies the standing of the program in the eyes of Congress – we look forward to working with our rural champions to ensure Congress passes this bipartisan bill into law,” said Tammy Norville, CEO of the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health.
PHC4 Looks to Broaden Value to Pennsylvania Stakeholders, Offering Insight into Non-Compete Agreements in Health Care and Public Comment Period
PHC4 has released a new resource on its website, intended to support informing interested Pennsylvanians on current topics that impact health care in the Commonwealth. This first occurrence aims to offer insight into non-compete agreements in health care and includes an extensive summary of the events on both state and federal levels.
PHC4 believes this coincides with its mission to empower Pennsylvanians through transparency, providing access to data, research, analysis, and reporting focused on the cost, utilization, and quality of health care delivery in the Commonwealth. Barry D. Buckingham, Executive Director at PHC4, stated, “I’m proud to be a part of expanding the reach of PHC4’s value by offering additional resources in support of every person in the Commonwealth making informed decisions.” He went on to say offering key insights and support to Pennsylvania’s stakeholders is paramount in assessing the relevance of this new requirement through Act 74 of 2024, as well as in the development of additional resources.
Announced alongside this is a public comment period in response to the Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, Act 74 of 2024. This recent legislation requires PHC4 to perform a study on the effects of the Act, and to report its findings. In support of this study PHC4 will be collecting public comment for analysis and inclusion within the final report. To ensure comments are included for analysis, the comment must be received by October 21, 2024. Those interested in commenting on Act 74 of 2024, may do so by sending an email or letter by mail to PHC4.
Email: publiccomment@phc4.org
Letter by Mail: PA Health Care Cost Containment Council, 225 Market St, Suite 400, Harrisburg, PA 17101
PHC4 is an independent council formed under Pennsylvania statute (Act 89 of 1986, as amended by Act 15 of 2020) to address rapidly growing health care costs. PHC4 continues to produce comparative information about the most efficient and effective health care to individual consumers and group purchasers of health services. In addition, PHC4 produces information used to identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care delivered.
For more information, visit phc4.org.
ARC Seeks Applicants for Capacity-Building Projects Across Appalachian Region
READY Grants to Grow is making $9 million available for projects that will build individual, organizational and/or community capacity to help the region’s most underserved areas and populations create positive change.
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) announced the launch of READY Grants to Grow, a new, $9 million funding opportunity that will award grants of up to $500,000 to organizations seeking to build individual, organizational and/or community capacity across Appalachia. Any organization that is eligible to apply for an ARC grant can apply for READY Grants to Grow, though certain requirements apply.
READY Grants to Grow is the latest offering from READY Appalachia, ARC’s capacity-building initiative offering no-cost training and funding access to nonprofits, local development districts (LDDs), local governments and community foundations serving the region. This new funding opportunity aims to make even more resources available to a wider range of community and economic development organizations.
“Many of our Appalachian communities do not have the staff to fully take advantage of valuable opportunities for growth,” said ARC Federal Co-Chair Gayle Manchin. “Through the READY Grants to Grow initiative, ARC is working to help these communities to address these economic inequalities, so they can increase their grant success potential and create long-lasting, transformative change for their residents and the region.”
To be selected, organizations must propose projects that strengthen underserved communities and economies in the Appalachian Region, and/or demonstrate low capacity themselves. Proposed projects must address one or more of the following:
- Individual capacity building, including skill training for organization staff or professional development for leaders.
- Organizational capacity building, including hiring new staff for expanded services, developing internal strategic plans, or purchasing goods and services that will improve operation.
- Community capacity building, including creating and expanding partnership networks, hiring a contractor for a community economic development plan, or launching a community-led planning process.
Successful projects will draw a clear connection between their capacity building proposal and the broader community’s economic development and improved services to underserved populations and areas.
A pre-application webinar will be held on October 10, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. ET. Interested applicants must submit a letter of intent to apply by November 1, 2024 to access application portal. Grant applications are due February 14, 2025.
READY Appalachia was launched in July 2022 using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. To date, ARC has provided no-cost training to 75 nonprofits, 90 local government entities, 41 LDDs and 30 community foundations to help them build internal capacity and better serve their communities. Nearly $4 million in funding (no match required) was awarded through READY LDDs and more than $1.6 million was awarded through READY Nonprofits, with more awards on the horizon through READY Local Governments and READY Community Foundations.
Across all READY Appalachia opportunities, special emphasis is placed on serving Appalachia’s most underrepresented communities, including economically distressed areas, organizations located within the Rural Partners Network’s Community Networks, counties prioritized by the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities, and marginalized populations.
About READY Appalachia
READY Appalachia is an ARC initiative building individual, organizational and community capacity in the Appalachian Region. Offerings include no-cost, cohort-based training and funding access (no match required) for nonprofit organizations, Local Development Districts (LDDs), local governments and community foundations serving the Appalachian Region. Additionally, READY Grants to Grow offers capacity building grant awards of up to $500,000, available to entities that are currently eligible to apply for ARC grants. Across all READY Appalachia offerings, special emphasis is placed on helping the region’s most under resourced and economically distressed communities increase their ability to solve pressing issues and create lasting, positive change.
About the Appalachian Regional Commission
The Appalachian Regional Commission is an economic development entity of the federal government and 13 state governments focusing on 423 counties across the Appalachian Region. ARC’s mission is to innovate, partner, and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in Appalachia to help the region achieve socioeconomic parity with the nation.
New Resource! Explore Career Paths In the U.S.
Many workers are looking for ways to move up the economic ladder. The updated Occupational Mobility Explorer from the Federal Reserve Banks of Philadelphia and Cleveland allows you to trace a career path by visualizing how skills needed for lower-paying jobs can transfer to similar jobs with higher pay in the same local market.
You can now explore nearly 600 job titles across 500-plus U.S. locations. You can build a path from your current role by exploring jobs with higher pay in the same local market that share skills with that role while identifying the additional skills you may need to develop to grow your career. Or select a higher-paying role to start, and the tool will show lower-paying roles with shared skills in that local market that could lead to that career goal.
What else is in the enhanced tool? You can see how similar the skills are between jobs in your path, their median wages, whether they require a college degree, and what their projected growth rate is. You can also view local job postings for jobs within your career path and write a skills-based resume using resources featured on the site.
703 Hospitals at Risk of Closure, State by State
From Becker’s Financial Management
More than 700 rural U.S. hospitals are at risk of closure due to financial problems, with more than half of those hospitals at immediate risk of closure.
The latest analysis from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, based on CMS’s July 2024 hospital financial information, reveals the financial vulnerability of rural hospitals in two categories: risk of closure and immediate risk of closure.
In the first category, nearly every state has hospitals at risk of closure, measured by financial reserves that can cover losses on patient services for only six to seven years. In over half the states, 25% or more of rural hospitals face this risk, with nine states having a majority of their rural hospitals in jeopardy.
The report also analyzes hospitals facing immediate threat of closure meaning financial reserves could offset losses on patient services for two to three years at most. Currently, 360 rural hospitals are at immediate risk of shutting down due to severe financial difficulties.
“The primary reason hundreds of rural hospitals are at risk of closing is that private insurance plans are paying them less than what it costs to deliver services to patients,” CHQPR notes in its report, identifying losses on private insurance patients as the biggest cause of overall financial losses.
“Most ‘solutions’ for rural hospitals have focused on increasing Medicare or Medicaid payments or expanding Medicaid eligibility due to a mistaken belief that most rural patients are insured by Medicare and Medicaid or are uninsured,” according to the CHQPR report. “In reality, about half of the services at the average rural hospital are delivered to patients with private insurance (both employer-sponsored insurance and Medicare Advantage plans). In most cases, the amounts these private plans pay, not Medicare or Medicaid payments, determine whether a rural hospital loses money.”
To preserve and enhance essential hospital services in rural areas, CHQPR recommends that small rural hospitals receive Standby Capacity Payments from both private and public payers. These payments would cover the hospital’s fixed costs for maintaining essential services, ensuring that rural communities continue to have access to necessary healthcare.
Below is a state-by-state listing of the number of rural hospitals at risk of closure in the next six to seven years and at immediate risk of closure over the next two to three years.
Alabama
28 hospitals at risk of closing (54%)
24 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (46%)
Alaska
2 hospitals at risk of closing (12%)
1 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (6%)
Arizona
2 hospitals at risk of closing (7%)
1 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (4%)
Arkansas
25 hospitals at risk of closing (54%)
13 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (28%)
California
23 hospitals at risk of closing (40%)
10 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (17%)
Colorado
10 hospitals at risk of closing (23%)
6 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (14%)
Connecticut
2 hospitals at risk of closing (67%)
1 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (33%)
Delaware
0 hospitals at risk of closing
0 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years
Florida
8 hospitals at risk of closing (36%)
5 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (23%)
Georgia
22 hospitals at risk of closing (32%)
11 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (16%)
Hawaii
8 hospitals at risk of closing (62%)
0 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years
Idaho
7 hospitals at risk of closing (24%)
0 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years
Illinois
12 hospitals at risk of closing (16%)
7 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years 9%)
Indiana
5 hospitals at risk of closing (9%)
4 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (7%)
Iowa
29 hospitals at risk of closing (31%)
10 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (11%)
Kansas
62 hospitals at risk of closing (63%)
31 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (32%)
Kentucky
13 hospitals at risk of closing (18%)
6 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (8%)
Louisiana
24 hospitals at risk of closing (44%)
12 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (22%)
Maine
10 hospitals at risk of closing (40%)
6 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (24%)
Maryland
0 hospitals at risk of closing
0 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years
Massachusetts
2 hospitals at risk of closing (33%)
1 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (17%)
Michigan
15 hospitals at risk of closing (23%)
7 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (11%)
Minnesota
19 hospitals at risk of closing (20%)
7 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (7%)
Mississippi
35 hospitals at risk of closing (52%)
25 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (37%)
Missouri
20 hospitals at risk of closing (34%)
10 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (17%)
Montana
14 hospitals at risk of closing (25%)
4 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (7%)
Nebraska
5 hospitals at risk of closing (7%)
2 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (3%)
Nevada
5 hospitals at risk of closing (36%)
3 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (21%)
New Hampshire
2 hospitals at risk of closing (12%)
0 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years
New Jersey
0 hospitals at risk of closing
0 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years
New Mexico
7 hospitals at risk of closing (26%)
6 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (22%)
New York
29 hospitals at risk of closing (56%)
20 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (38%)
North Carolina
6 hospitals at risk of closing (11%)
5 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (9%)
North Dakota
13 hospitals at risk of closing (33%)
5 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (13%)
Ohio
5 hospitals at risk of closing (7%)
2 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (3%)
Oklahoma
39 hospitals at risk of closing (50%)
26 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (33%)
Oregon
8 hospitals at risk of closing (24%)
2 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (6%)
Pennsylvania
13 hospitals at risk of closing (30%)
7 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (16%)
Rhode Island
0 hospitals at risk of closing
0 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years
South Carolina
10 hospitals at risk of closing (40%)
5 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (20%)
South Dakota
8 hospitals at risk of closing (16%)
4 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (8%)
Tennessee
19 hospitals at risk of closing (36%)
17 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (32%)
Texas
80 hospitals at risk of closing (50%)
30 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (19%)
Utah
0 hospitals at risk of closing
0 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years
Vermont
8 hospitals at risk of closing (62%)
4 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (31%)
Virginia
9 hospitals at risk of closing (30%)
8 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (27%)
Washington
16 hospitals at risk of closing (36%)
4 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (9%)
West Virginia
11 hospitals at risk of closing (35%)
5 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (16%)
Wisconsin
7 hospitals at risk of closing (9%)
1 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (1%)
Wyoming
6 hospitals at risk of closing (24%)
2 at immediate risk of closing in next 2-3 years (8%)