Financial performance of rural hospitals persistently lacking or having telehealth technology

Background: Rural hospitals experience financial pressures that threaten their ability to continue operations and provide accessible quality healthcare services. To ensure the delivery of patient care to rural residents some rural hospitals have adopted telehealth technology. Although telehealth has been cited to have several positive outcomes, there is variation in telehealth adoption by rural hospitals. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors associated with telehealth adoption and to compare the financial condition of rural hospital telehealth adopters and non-adopters.