A new report reveals that all but 17 of the rural hospitals in Arkansas could close within 6 to 7 years. As the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports, the June 2025 report from the Center for Health Care Quality and Payment Reform (CHQPR) was published before the passage of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act and found that 64% [30 of the state’s 47 rural hospitals with inpatient services] were at risk of closure due to losses on patient services, insufficient revenues from other sources to offset losses, and low financial reserves. That number is up from 20 hospitals considered at-risk, that were listed in the report 18 months prior. The report also found that 11 rural hospitals in the state were at quote, ‘immediate risk of closure.”
Within the Red River Radio listening area, a number of South Arkansas rural hospitals report overall financial losses. Those facilities include South Arkansas Regional Hospital in El Dorado, Magnolia Regional Medical Center, Ouachita County Medical Center in Camden, and Southwest Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Hope, Little River Memorial Hospital in Ashdown, and Sevier County Medical Center in De Queen, Arkansas. Other states in the region face similar challenges. Texas, for example, has 22 rural hospitals at immediate risk of closure, with a total of 56% [87 of 156] of such facilities at risk. Oklahoma has 23 rural hospitals at immediate risk, with a total of 60% [47 of 78] at risk of closure. Louisiana has 7 rural hospitals at immediate risk, with a total of 45% [25 of 56] at risk of closure.
Overall, the new report also reveals that more than 100 rural hospitals nationwide have closed in the last decade alone. The report concludes that “millions of Americans no longer have access to an emergency room, inpatient care, and many other hospital services that citizens in most of the rest of the country take for granted.”
In Louisiana, within our listening area, two rural hospitals, North Caddo Medical Center in Vivian, and Springhill Medical Center report losses on patient services, while Minden Medical Center, Claiborne Memorial Medical Center in Homer, and Natchitoches Regional Medical Center all report overall financial losses. For a complete list of such hospitals in Texas click here.
The long-term big picture does not appear to be any brighter, with the new study showing that more than 700 rural hospitals, one-third of all rural hospitals in the U.S., are at risk of closing, with more than 300 at immediate risk.
