rural healthcare

Thirteen of Kentucky's 71 rural inpatient hospitals are at risk of closing, and six of those are at immediate risk of closing, according to the latest analysis of Hospital Cost Reports by the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.

After months of planning and discussion, local leaders in a northwestern Tennessee community have agreed on a course of action to keep its hospital in operation.

Tennessee public health clinics will no longer give teens access to routine healthcare — including birth control, sexually transmitted infection treatment and pregnancy tests — without parental consent, according to the Department of Health’s interpretation of a new parental rights law that took effect July 1.

A western Tennessee hospital announced last week that it would suspend medical services related to pregnancy and childbirth later this year.

More than half of all rural Tennessee hospitals no longer deliver babies — a trend that shows no clear signs of reversal while pregnant patients outside major metropolitan areas routinely drive an hour, or more, in order to give birth.

Opening or expanding a new hospital in Tennessee just got a bit easier. State law requires health systems to prove their new facilities are needed. But…