ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2026
Rural Hospital Closures, Hospital Spatial Accessibility, and Preventive Care Receipt in the US South: A Cross-Sectional Ecological Study.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Rural Hospital Closures and Mortality From Time-Sensitive Conditions in Texas.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Cost and Utilization of Ambulance Services Across the United States.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Navigating Dual Burdens: Financial Burdens and Travel Burdens Among Rural-Dwelling Cancer Survivors.Cancer control : journal of the Moffitt Cancer CenterArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRural hospital closures have accelerated since 2010, disproportionately affecting primary care health professional shortage areas (HPSAs). Rural hospital closures are associated with increased patient travel burdens, and reduced primary care physician supply. Less is known about associations between closures and primary care utilization among rural residents.
objectiveThis study evaluates preventive healthcare receipt among rural-dwelling adults in the wake of hospital closures.
designGeneralized linear mixed models (GLMMs) were used to examine associations between hospital closures, spatial accessibility to hospitals, primary care practitioner shortage, and receipt of preventive care among adults. SUBJECTS: Residents in 4275 rural Census tracts, within 720 counties in the US South MAIN MEASURES: Outcomes included the following: tract percentage of: adults who received a routine preventive care in the previous year; women age ≥ 65 who received preventive services; men age ≥ 65 who received preventive services; cholesterol screening receipt among adults (≥ 18 years). Model covariates included county-level count of hospital closures from 2010 to 2018, travel time and distance to the two nearest hospitals, and county Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) designation. KEY
resultsApproximately 10% of tracts were in closure counties, and 26% were in counties adjacent to closure counties. Mean travel time and distance to the nearest and second nearest hospital were 15.9 miles (22.8 min) and 26.4 miles (35.4 min), respectively. Location in a county with two hospital closures was negatively associated with receipt of preventive services among older adults (women -4.9, 95%CI -7.6 to -2.4; men -3.8, 95%CI -6.6 to -0.9).
conclusionsGiven the high prevalence of chronic conditions and disproportionate risk of hospital closure in the US South region, policymakers and health systems need to bolster primary care service networks amid ongoing hospital closures.
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