Jonah Graves, MD

Research Project:
Impact of Rural Emergency Hospital Designation on Outcomes among Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Grant Awarded:

Public Health and Policy Research Award

Research Topics:

disparities
epidemiology
health policy
public health

Research Disease:

COPD

Rural communities across the U.S. are losing hospitals, making it harder for people to get emergency and specialty care. To help fix this problem, the federal government created a new program called the Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) designation in 2023. Hospitals that choose this option stop offering inpatient care but receive extra funding to keep their emergency rooms and outpatient services open. This change could help patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by keeping local clinics and emergency care available when they need it. Because the REH program is new, we do not know yet whether it actually improves people’s health. In this project, we will study national Medicare data to see how patients with COPD do before and after their local hospital becomes a REH. This will help us understand whether the program leads to better access to care, fewer emergency visits and improved health.

Page last updated: September 23, 2026

Jonah Graves, MD

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