A PROGRAM TO SUPPORT SMALL RURAL HOSPITALS

Rural hospitals continue to face the threat of closure. Congress passe d legislation in 1989 and 1990 to offer an alternative for small rural hospitals; the legislation encourages hospitals to form networks comp rising an essential access community hospital (EACH) and one or more r ural primary care hospitals. This legislation is a tightly focused pro gram that will affect no more than an estimated 150 hospitals in seven States; implementation of the program has been controversial, as this DataWatch demonstrates. The authors describe the profile of rural hos pitals that are likely to apply to participate in the program, based o n distances between hospitals and number of beds.