Rural Hospitals Weigh Independence Against Need For Computer Help

One of the biggest challenges American hospitals face right now is moving to electronic medical records from old-fashioned paper files.

The switch is costing tens of billions of dollars, eating up tons of staff time, and it's especially tough for the country's 2,000 rural and small-town hospitals. Rural hospitals are typically short on cash and people with information technology skills. So a lot of small hospitals are turning to bigger hospitals for help, and giving up some independence in exchange.

The 10-bed Beartooth Billings Clinic in Red Lodge (MO), a historic mining town just outside Yellowstone National Park and 60 miles west of Billing is one hospital that did. Sharing electronic records sounds simple. But for a lot of little hospitals doing that while meeting new federal digital standards means coming up with $1 million or more up front.

That's a tall order, when the average rural hospital runs at a financial loss of 8 percent a year. So the Red Lodge hospital became part of the bigger Billings Clinic system, in part to get help with IT.