Arkansas’ rural hospitals await federal relief funds; tiered payment system draws criticism

A nurse talks with an elderly patient at Fulton County Hospital in Salem in this August 2002 file photo. The hospital was one of four in Arkansas targeted in 2023 for a share of $16.3 million in emergency assistance from American Rescue Plan funds. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette file photo)
A nurse talks with an elderly patient at Fulton County Hospital in Salem in this August 2002 file photo. The hospital was one of four in Arkansas targeted in 2023 for a share of $16.3 million in emergency assistance from American Rescue Plan funds. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette file photo)


As rural hospitals across Arkansas continue to struggle from debt incurred during the coronavirus pandemic, many were given a lifeline of $60 million to be distributed from federal covid relief funds set aside in 2022 by state legislators.

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