You’ve probably heard the expression, “all hat, no cattle.” It describes someone who wears trappings of a cowboy but has never stepped foot on a ranch.
Well, the phrase also applies to some urban hospitals.
A Health Affairs study found that the number of geographically urban hospitals benefiting from a federal program intended to support those in rural communities under Medicare grew from only three in 2017 to 425 in 2023. Members of Congress have pointed to hospitals in places such as Manhattan, Boston, and San Francisco taking advantage of this peculiar arrangement.
Why would a large urban hospital want to be considered rural?
