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Critical access hospitals (CAHs; defined as hospitals that are located more than 35 miles from the next closest hospital, have no more than 25 acute care beds, and offer 24-hour emergency services) provide inpatient care for the 20% of Americans who live in geographically remote regions. Despite federal efforts to help CAHs provide such access, we know little about the quality of care at CAHs, as they are exempt from reporting performance measures to government agencies.
To compare quality of care at CAHs and non-CAHs, researchers performed a retrospective analysis of more than 4500 U.S. hospitals; approximately one quarter met the CAH definition. CAHs had limited resources and, compared with non-CAHs, were significantly less likely to have …