Tennessee Economic Development Officials Offer To Help Rescue Rural Hospitals

Tennessee's economic development officials want to help rescue rural hospitals. They propose dispatching restructuring specialists to a dozen or more hospitals that are teetering on the edge. Tennessee has lost more hospitals since 2012 than any state but Texas, and the Department of Economic and Community Development argues that hospitals are doubly important for rural communities. They're often the largest employer around, and without one, it's virtually impossible to recruit major businesses to the area. "Rural hospital closures have impacted us in a very direct way and have affected our ability to recruit to certain rural areas," ECD's Sammie Arnold told lawmakers during a recent hearing.The proposal, dubbed the Tennessee Rural Hospital Transformation Act, would direct ECD to send contractors to rural hospitals at risk of closure to help develop a stabilization plan.