News for Immediate Release
January 20, 2026
Harrisburg – PHC4’s Financial Analysis 2024 – Rural Hospitals report, released today, displays information specific to Pennsylvania general acute care (GAC) hospitals located in rural counties. Supplementary to PHC4’s Financial Analysis, this is the second report in this new annual series, offering succinct data to support all who rely on rural health care in the Commonwealth.
Barry D. Buckingham, PHC4’s Executive Director stated, “Understanding the landscape of health care, PHC4 is uniquely positioned to support an analysis of the financial health of rural hospitals in Pennsylvania. Last February we released the inaugural edition of this report.” Buckingham stated, “PHC4 expects to continue to support communities and stakeholders by making this ongoing series of reports.”
Rural hospitals, which comprise 41% of Pennsylvania’s statewide total number of GAC hospitals, exhibit distinct financial characteristics. This analysis focuses on the 63 GAC hospitals located in rural areas in fiscal year 2024 (FY24). Of these 63 rural hospitals, 22 (35%) reported operating losses during FY24 based on their operating margins. The average net patient revenue for these hospitals operating at a loss was $80 million in FY24. The key factors that may contribute to the financial challenges at rural hospitals include:
- Decreased Reimbursements: Reduced payments from government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid placing significant financial pressure on rural hospitals.
- Aging Populations: Rural communities often have older populations, typically requiring more complex and costly medical care.
- Lower Patient Volume: Serving smaller populations limits revenue potential, making it harder for rural hospitals to cover operating expenses.
- Higher Operating Costs: Geographic and logistical challenges—such as transportation, staffing shortages, and maintaining specialized services—contribute to elevated costs.
- Uncompensated Care: Rural hospitals face a growing burden of uncompensated care, including patient bad debt and charity care.
PHC4 strives to ensure Pennsylvanians are armed with publicly available, fact-based, health care information and plans to continuously enrich its reporting and the resources it develops to bring value to communities across the Commonwealth.
PHC4 is an independent council formed under Pennsylvania statute (Act 89 of 1986, as amended by Act 15 of 2020) in order to address rapidly growing health care costs. PHC4 continues to produce comparative information about the most efficient and effective health care to individual consumers and group purchasers of health services.
In addition, PHC4 produces information used to identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care delivered. For more information, visit phc4.org or access the report here.
Media contact:
Barry D. Buckingham, Executive Director, PHC4
