For many rural hospitals, new payment model doesn’t add up

The rural emergency hospital is the first new federal payment program since the critical-access hospital model was introduced in 1997.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who co-sponsored legislation leading to the new program’s creation, hoped it would stave off hospital closures that decimate local economies and force patients to travel farther for care. Around 140 rural hospitals have shuttered or converted to outpatient-only facilities over…