Access implications of rural hospital closures and conversions.

Abstract

This article examines the effects of rural hospital closures and conversions on various structural dimensions of access. Based on a data set of rural hospitals in Texas during the period 1985-1990, the results indicate that closure or conversion typically had relatively little detrimental effect on hospital services and distance to alternative sources of care, but hospital bed and physician availability may have been adversely affected in certain cases. Rural hospital conversions to alternative types of health care facilities, such as ambulatory care clinics, do appear to have maintained the availability of a restricted set of medical services in some rural areas.