Clinically integrated networks: Enduring in rural areas

Twenty-one hospitals located in rural North Dakota have partnered to improve patient care.

In what is known as a clinically integrated network, the rural hospitals deploy innovative strategies to survive, according to a news article from NPR. For instance, collaborating can allow the hospitals to share resources; incorporate a value-based reimbursement model that encourages higher quality care; and avoid being absorbed by larger hospital systems, limiting inpatient services or shutting down. Over the past 15 years, about 150 and 450 rural hospitals have closed down and been acquired by larger hospitals, respectively.

Because of the costs associated with carrying magnetic resonance imaging machines, the hospitals recruit mobile imaging units containing MRI machines to visit the hospitals weekly. These units are designed to make health care more accessible among residents of rural areas, who would otherwise have to travel long distances to receive necessary screenings. Further, specialists may divide their time between multiple hospitals, outreach initiatives can help motivate patients behind on their routine or preventive care to schedule appointments and shared contracts can enhance the hospitals’ offerings such as telehealth and prescription drug programs.

Since North Dakota’s clinically integrated network started in 2023, four other networks have launched in Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska and Ohio — and 10 other states are weighing the benefits of introducing the novel model to rural hospitals.

Read more: NPR

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