BOWMAN, N.D. \u2014 Independent rural hospitals are increasingly forming collaborative groups to share resources and combine bargaining power with the goal of saving money and improving patient care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The networks, which have cropped up in several states in recent years, offer small-town hospitals an alternative to selling to large hospital systems and forfeiting local autonomy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We found that we could both have the power of negotiation as a larger entity but also be able to negotiate lower costs for services and equipment,” said Dennis Goebel, CEO of Southwest Healthcare Services, a Bowman hospital that is part of the 22-member Rough Rider Network in North Dakota.<\/p>\n
Since 2010, 153 rural hospitals in the U.S. have either shuttered completely or cut inpatient services, according to the Sheps Center for Health Services Research<\/a> at the University of North Carolina. And 441 joined hospital chains between 2011 and 2021, according to a report<\/a> commissioned by the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare, an advocacy group consisting of hospitals and health associations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Proponents of the networks hope more collaborations will be fueled by the recently approved federal $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program<\/a>, which became law as part of the sweeping tax-and-spend measure backed by the Trump administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many hospitals that join networks are motivated by the chance to combine their patient rolls for value-based care contracts<\/a>, a reimbursement model in which insurers pay providers based on the quality of care they provide and the health outcomes of their patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n The hospitals can also pool staffers for health insurance plans, share specialists<\/a>, and receive better rates on contracts for services ranging from prescription drug programs to mobile imaging.\u00a0<\/p>\n Retta Jacobi recently took advantage of the latter service when a semitruck with an MRI machine inside its trailer parked outside the Bowman hospital in southwestern North Dakota, a sparsely populated region dotted with ranchland and Badlands rock formations. She hoped the scan would pinpoint what was causing pain in her shoulders.\u00a0<\/p>\n The mobile MRI operation visits one or two hospitals in the Rough Rider Network each day. Without it, Bowman residents would have to drive 40 minutes for similar scans.\u00a0<\/p>\n Researchers haven’t yet examined whether the networks are working, according to a 2020 paper from the Rand Corp., a research nonprofit.\u00a0<\/p>\n But leaders from network members say their programs are saving money and improving patient outcomes by, for example, increasing rates of preventive care and decreasing hospital admissions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jacobi, who provides speech therapy to children in the local school district, is doing physical therapy after a doctor examined her MRI results. She’s thankful she could get a diagnosis and treatment advice without having to travel far for the scan.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Anytime we can maintain more local control, it’s a good thing for our small towns,” Jacobi said.<\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\nUSE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n