Rural health care: the future of the hospital.

medical care are all characteristics of the rural health care system. The rural hospital has been particularly hard hit in the early 1980s, and since, due to a decreasing demand for inpatient services and increased costcontainment efforts on the part of health care payers. The rural hospital has been a traditional symbol of a community’s identity and pride, as well as a major component of the local economy. The rural hospital is often a major employer in the area. It has been estimated that a typical hospital in a rural Pennsylvania community with