National Healthcare Consultant Group: 21-25% of New Mexico’s Rural Hospitals Vulnerable to Closure
Rural Hospitals Vulnerable to Closure
CHARTIS, a national healthcare management and consultant group, “identified 432 rural hospitals [across the United States] vulnerable to closure. Of the 48 states with rural hospitals, 38 have at least one vulnerable hospital.”
The map below, from the CHARTIS report, indicates that between 21% and 25% of New Mexico rural hospitals are considered vulnerable to closure.
(Map depiction above from CHARTIS report.)
The report also states that some states, including New Mexico, have been trying to address the financial dangers that many rural hospitals face, writing,
“… A mix of initiatives at the state level, such as the Commonwealth Fund in Pennsylvania, the 2024 Health Care Delivery and Access Act in New Mexico, and the organization of tax districts in states like Washington and Iowa have also helped to ease the financial burden for rural hospitals and support maintaining access to care.” [Emphasis added.]
(Click here to link to the CHARTIS report, entitled, “2025 rural health state of the state.”)
Rural Veterans Vulnerable Due to High Poverty
According to the CHARTIS report, 60% to 79% of veterans living in rural New Mexico face poverty. The CHARTIS document adds,
“Veterans are particularly vulnerable, given the broad instability and declining access to care reverberating throughout the rural health safety net.”
“Nearly 2 million of the 4.4 million veterans living in rural communities are not enrolled in the
Veterans Health Administration (VHA). More than 40% of rural veterans have a service-related
disability, 54% are over the age of 65, and 31% earn less than $35,000 per year.”
(Map depiction above from CHARTIS report.)
Premature Death is More Prevalent in Rural Communities
“Premature death, a metric that reflects the potential years of life lost before the age of 75, is
more prevalent in rural communities than urban ones (62nd percentile vs. 42nd percentile).
“At the state level, premature death among people living in rural communities is highest in
South Carolina (95th percentile), Mississippi (94th percentile), and Tennessee (90th percentile).
Other states hovering near the 90th percentile for premature death include Alabama, Arkansas,
Louisiana, and New Mexico.” [Emphasis added.]
(Map depiction above from CHARTIS report.)
More from the CHARTIS REPORT:
“Rural communities see higher rates of suicides and other deaths of despair measures“
“Rural healthcare leaders, advocates, and researchers in recent years increasingly view certain
population health data points through the lens of “deaths of despair” (e.g., alcohol consumption, drug overdose deaths, suicides, and gun violence). This is an important lens through which to understand population health and wellbeing because these measures can be driven in part by external socio-economic conditions (e.g., financial stability and local economic opportunity) and other disparities.
“At a national level, rural and urban percentile rankings for these types of measures do reflect
parity when it comes to excessive drinking (45th percentile vs. 53rd percentile) and drug
overdose deaths (48th percentile vs. 51st percentile).
“Excessive drinking is most prevalent within rural communities in Wisconsin (97th percentile),
Montana (93rd percentile), and Alaska (89th percentile). Deaths related to drug overdose,
meanwhile, are more prevalent in rural communities in West Virginia (90th percentile), Delaware (88th percentile), Kentucky (86th percentile), and Connecticut (84th percentile).
“With suicides, our analysis identified sizable differences in the national data. Rural communities rank at the 69th percentile versus the 37th percentile for urban communities. Suicide-related deaths in rural communities are at their highest in Montana (98th percentile), Wyoming (97th percentile), and Arizona (96th percentile). In all, the rural median for suicides ranks at the 90th percentile or above in 10 states.
“Firearm fatalities are also notably higher in rural settings (63rd percentile) than in urban settings (42nd percentile). Gun violence is a leading contributor to premature death in the US, and a majority are the result of suicides. The highest rates of firearms fatalities in rural settings are in Mississippi, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada, and Montana.” [Emphasis added.]
More reporting to come on New Mexico rural hospitals.
About The Author
