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News
A new Harvard study reveals that hospital closures aren't just a rural problem — urban facilities are shutting down at similar rates. From 2010 to 2025, the U.S. lost a net 216 hospitals and ~24,400 beds, with 84 million people affected. Experts are urging policymakers to rethink their narrow focus on rural hospitals and address access gaps for all vulnerable communities.
A new Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study, published in JAMA, is challenging a long-held assumption in healthcare policy: that hospital closures are primarily a rural problem. Researchers found that closure rates between rural and urban hospitals were statistically similar — a finding that has major implications for how policymakers allocate support and funding.
From 2010 through 2025, the U.S. recorded 432 acute hospital closures and only 216 new openings, resulting in a net loss of 216 hospitals and roughly 24,400 beds. Closures grew by 4% year over year, while new openings slowed by 3% annually. The facilities most likely to close were for-profit, safety-net, nonteaching, and smaller hospitals, as well as those located in Medicaid non-expansion states or socially vulnerable counties.
Why it matters: With billions in federal support flowing almost exclusively to rural hospitals, urban safety-net facilities — already strained by Medicaid cuts — are being left behind. This study makes a compelling case for a broader, community-focused approach to protecting hospital access nationwide.
