The Impact of Rural Hospital Closures and Mergers on Health System Ecologies: A Scoping Review.

ABSTRACT: Despite playing a pivotal role in rural community health services delivery and in local economies, rural hospitals in the United States have closed or merged with larger health networks at alarming rates. This scoping review examines what is known about the impacts of rural hospital closures and mergers since 2010. Using the literature, we inductively derived a new Health System Ecologies Impact Matrix research tool to assess knowledge related to health system changes. Most of the included studies examined closures, primarily reporting on community impacts. Knowledge gaps remain related to financial-, workforce-, and utilization-related outcomes, and little is known about impacts on neighboring hospitals and communities. Few studies report effects of rural hospital mergers, primarily focus

SUBMITTER: Coates A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12414111 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature