According to the report, the shuttering of the Emlenton Area Family Practice is being felt most acutely by “elderly and disabled residents of a subsidized housing complex across the street,” who now must drive to a larger nearby office in Shippenville, Pa.
“The state’s significant underfunding of Medicaid was certainly a contributing factor in the decision to merge the smaller Emlenton office with a nearby larger office,” Paul Wood, Pittsburgh-based UPMC vice president and chief communications officer, told Becker’s in a statement.
Rural Pennsylvania has seen increasing obstacles to care access as large health systems cut services to reduce costs, according to the report.
St. Marys, Pa.-based Penn Highlands Elk, part of DuBois, Pa.-based Penn Highlands Healthcare, closed its labor and delivery services on May 1. Now, the county commissioners have created an independent hospital authority to find ways of restoring hospital maternity care in the area.
In August, Beaver, Pa.-based Heritage Valley Health System said it laid off several workers and was closing multiple facilities as part of an organizational downsizing.
Nearly 30% of rural hospitals in Pennsylvania were at risk of closing, former Gov. Tom Corbett wrote in an op-ed published Aug. 2 in the Post-Gazette. Six counties in the state are now “maternal care deserts” and 60% of rural hospitals do not have labor and delivery services, he said.
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