Items Tagged with 'hospitals'

Medicare expansion proposals could benefit rural health care, if enacted; more realistically, smaller benefits for rural hospitals, and perhaps cheaper drugs for all, may be on the way.

The U.S. could see a shortage of nearly 120,000 physicians over the next 12 years as demand is outgrowing supply, with the stakes even higher in rural areas. Liberalizing immigration rules and enacting new financial incentives for rural doctors could help fill the gaps, some experts say.

WASHINGTON, July 26, 207 - With rural hospitals at risk of closure and healthcare providers increasingly abandoning sparsely populated areas, residents in vast swaths of the country often must drive for hours and take time off from work to see a doctor or medical specialist.