One of the biggest challenges facing our rural communities is access to care.
In the last 8 years, 5% of rural hospitals have closed their doors, leaving their communities with no access to emergency care and many more hospitals continue to struggle to keep their doors open.
Additionally, one of the major tragedies in access to care has been the closing of labor and delivery units in a large number of rural hospitals.
Here at Innova, we were very glad to see a recent article in the New York Times highlighting access to care issues for rural communities. This article focuses on both lack of obstetrical care as well as lack of Emergency Services available to a large percentage of rural patients.