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Kansas, One of Highest At-Risk States for Rural Hospitals

Nearly 30 percent of all rural hospitals in the U.S. are at risk for closure according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Posted December 6, 2023

Kansas has closed down ten rural hospitals and an additional 84 hospitals have been impacted by a shortage of workforce since 2005, making it a lead state for at-risk rural hospitals in the nation, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.

Nearly 30 percent of all rural hospitals in the U.S. are at risk of closure, according to the CHQPR.

Since 2020, a total of 37 rural hospitals have closed permanently because of ever-growing factors in workforce shortages and rising costs.

Kansas currently has 102 operating rural hospitals. Since 2020 two hospitals, Wellington-based Sumner Community Hospital and Herington-based Herington Hospital, have completely stopped providing healthcare services. In the same time frame, both the Community Healthcare System in St. Marys and Saint Luke’s Cushing Hospital in Leavenworth have had to convert their services to no longer provide in-patient services.

Missouri has 57 operating rural hospitals and has also closed ten hospitals since 2005. However, the state has only experienced 30 hospitals with losses in services in that same time.