Source: NPR, 4/14/20


Rural hospitals tend to operate on extremely thin margins. Right now, like most hospitals in the U.S., they've redirected their resources to coping with the coronavirus pandemic. They've essentially stopped doing elective surgeries — like knee and hip replacements — and procedures, like colonoscopies. As a result, income has fallen, expenses have risen, even though many rural hospitals have seen no coronavirus cases at all. Those hospitals are just empty...and waiting.

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