iVantage Health Analytics presented its "2016 Rural Relevance: Vulnerability to Value Study" research at the Rural Health Policy Institute.
Here are five things to know:
1. The researchers looked at the challenges rural hospitals faced and the impact of rural hospital closures.
2. The study uses iVantage's Hospital Strength INDEX to measure performance across nine measures and 70 metrics.
3. Since 2010, hospitals closed in more than 60 rural communities.
4. The report found 673 rural facilities at risk of closing in 2016.
5. If those facilities all closed, iVantage predicts about 11.7 million patients would lose care. Further, the closures would result in the loss of about 99,000 healthcare jobs.