Our Recent Work

When a rural area loses its hospital, it isn’t just devastating for patients who will have to travel farther for care, it destroys local economies, often permanently. Since 2005, 180 rural hospitals nationwide have stopped inpatient services or closed entirely.

While Colorado hasn’t had a rural hospital close in recent memory, these vital institutions have faced challenges for decades. With the passage of Federal H.R. 1 making deep cuts to Medicaid, as well as additional cuts in the next state fiscal year’s budget, these hospitals are under existential threat that must drive policy change to save them.

The Colorado Rural Futures initiative, led by eight rural hospital CEOs, has developed a concrete set of policy recommendations designed to maintain and sustain rural hospitals statewide. After extensive research conducted by the Farley Center, including a literature review, key informant interviews, legislative scans of peer states, key stakeholder focus groups, and quantitative analysis of hospital discharge data, among other methods, the Farley Center and the Rural Futures team have published the results. This report analyzes this data to prioritize recommendations with actionable strategies at the state, federal, and organizational levels.

We all have a role to play in saving our rural hospitals: download the report to find out what you can do to help.