Less staff, longer delays and fewer options: Rural America confronts a health care crisis
ABC News
More than 40,000 graduating medical students learned Friday where they will spend the next three to seven years of their medical training.
With the United States grappling with a simultaneous shortage of primary care physicians and a rural health care crisis, many of the graduating students are set to enter the front lines of the country's health care shortage.
At least 136 rural hospitals and health systems closed between 2010 and 2021, and over 40% of rural hospitals operate with negative profit margins. Despite billions of dollars in investment in health care, hospitals throughout the United States face the possibility of shutting down.
Moreover, health care professionals believe that the shortage of PCPs can make other elements of health care more expensive and worsen overall patient outcomes.