Rural hospitals built during Baby Boom now face Baby Bust

Rural hospitals built during Baby Boom now face Baby Bust 
KFF Health News; by Tony Leys; 7/15/24 
... Many of the U.S. hospitals that are now dropping obstetrics units were built or expanded in the mid-1900s, when America went on a rural-hospital building spree, thanks to federal funding from the Hill-Burton Act. “It was an amazing program,” said Brock Slabach, chief operations officer for the National Rural Health Association. “Basically, if you were a county that wanted a hospital, they gave you the money.”
Editor's Note: Mark Cohen has discussed the Hill-Burton Act with Chris Comeaux in their monthly TCN Talks podcasts. Closures of rural hospital services continue to increase, impacting end-of-life care awareness, referrals, and utilization throughout our nation's rural areas.