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12 CFO / FINANCE 5 States With the Most Rural Hospital Closures By Ayla Ellison O f the 25 states that have seen at least one rural hospital close since 2010, those with the most closures are in the South, according to research from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. For its analysis, the NCRHRP defined a hos- pital closure as the cessation in the provision of inpatient services. As of March 27, all of the facilities listed below no longer provided inpa- tient care. However, some of them still offered other services, including outpatient care, im- aging, urgent care or rehabilitation services. Since 2010, 78 rural hospitals have closed. Here are the five states with the most rural hospital closures since 2010, according to the analysis. 1. Texas — 12 hospitals Bowie Memorial East Texas Medical Center-Clarksville East Texas Medical Center-Gilmer East Texas Medical Center-Mount Vernon Good Shepherd Medical Center (Linden) Gulf Coast Medical Center (Wharton) Hunt Regional Hospital of Commerce Lake Whitney Medical Center (Whitney) Nix Community General Hospital (Dilley) Renaissance Hospital Terrell Shelby Regional Medical Center (Center) Wise Regional Health System-Bridgeport 2. Tennessee — 8 hospitals Gibson General Hospital (Trenton) Haywood Park Community Hospital (Brownsville) Humboldt General Hospital McNairy Regional Hospital (Selmer) Parkridge West Hospital (Jasper) Pioneer Community Hospital of Scott (Oneida) Starr Regional Medical Center-Etowah United Regional Medical Center (Manchester) 3. Georgia — 6 hospitals Calhoun Memorial Hospital (Arlington) Charlton Memorial Hospital (Folkston) Hart County Hospital (Hartwell) Lower Oconee Community Hospital (Glenwood) North Georgia Medical Center (Ellijay) Stewart-Webster Hospital (Richland) 4. Alabama — 5 hospitals Chilton Medical Center (Clanton) Elba General Hospital Florala Memorial Hospital Randolph Medical Center (Roanoke) South West Alabama Medical Center (omasville) 4. Mississippi — 5 hospitals Kilmichael Hospital Merit Health Natchez – Community Campus Patient's Choice Medical Center of Hum- phreys County (Belzoni) Pioneer Community Hospital of Newton Quitman County Hospital (Marks) n Arizona Hospital Falls Into Bankruptcy Less Than 2 Years After Opening By Ayla Ellison G reen Valley (Ariz.) Hospital is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy less than two years after it opened. Green Valley CEO John Matuska told the Arizona Daily Star the 49-bed for-profit hospital is filing for bankruptcy to strengthen its finan- cials. "This is merely a procedural step, and to be sustainable we have to take this step to reorganize our finances and alleviate some of our debt burden," he said. The hospital will operate as normal during the bankruptcy process and no layoffs are expected, according to the report. Green Valley Hospital's financial troubles stem from several sources, including loans with high fees and interest rates it cannot afford and an annual $600,000 levy to fund Medicaid expansion in Arizona. State officials intended for the expanded Medicaid program to lower hos- pitals' bad debt levels, which would partially offset the assessment on hospitals. However, less than 10 percent of Green Valley Hospital's pa- tients are on Medicaid, making the fee a financial burden, according to the report. Mr. Matuska, who has served as CEO of Green Valley since October, expects the bankruptcy process to take about six months. n Mount Sinai Hospital's Operating Income Jumps 52% By Ayla Ellison N ew York City-based Mount Sinai Hospital's operating income increased in 2016 on higher patient volume. Mount Sinai Hospital reported revenue of $2.4 bil- lion in 2016, up from revenue of $2.1 billion in the year prior, according to recently released bond- holder documents. The financial boost was largely attributable to higher net patient service revenue, which in- creased 9.8 percent year over year to $2.3 billion in 2016. Mount Sinai said discharges and emer- gency room visits were both up in 2016 com- pared to the year prior. After factoring in expenses, which increased 9.2 percent year over year, Mount Sinai ended 2016 with operating income of $159.7 million, up 51.7 percent from operating income of $105.3 million in 2015. n