Rural Virginians are pushing back against the potential closure of hospitals in their communities after a state report flagged 13 facilities as at risk of shutting down.
Cyliene Montgomery has lived in rural southern Virginia for decades and goes out of her way to make sure her community has what it needs. When a report released in June labeled some area hospitals as at risk of closing, concern rippled through the community. In late July, Montgomery gathered neighbors to discuss their concerns at a community meeting.
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Montgomery's closest medical center is VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill — one of the 13 rural hospitals identified as at risk of closure in a report from the Virginia General Assembly's Joint Commission on Health Care.
The problem extends well beyond Virginia. An analysis by the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform found 700 rural hospitals across the country at risk of closing as of July 2026. The same report shows 110 rural hospitals have closed their doors since 2015.
Access to a nearby hospital is critical in an emergency, but Montgomery also worries about how a closure could affect everyday health needs.
"If people have to travel to go to a primary care doctor or anything that has to do with preventative, I can promise you they're not going to go," Montgomery said.
Transportation emerged as a key challenge during Montgomery's community meeting. Patricia Harper-Tunley, a Lunenburg County, Virginia, resident and local Democratic party leader, described the isolation many residents face.
"We are a Uber desert, a Lyft desert... but when an emergency hits, South Hill is the closest thing to us, and it is a matter of life and death," Harper-Tunley said.
Dr. Marlon Levy, head of the VCU Health system, disputes the Virginia Commission report's characterization of the hospital's financial standing.
"It's true that if you look at standalone finances, sort of really just cone down on just financial performance for that campus, it doesn't look particularly favorable," Levy said.
But Levy stressed that the South Hill campus benefits from being part of the larger VCU Health system.
"The patients at South Hill depend very much on the expertise and the knowledge of the medical faculty that we have here in Richmond," Levy said. "I think rural hospitals that are linked to academic medical centers, in particular, are probably in a different category than standalone traditional community-based rural hospitals."
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Not all rural hospitals have the benefit of being part of a health system with campuses in major cities. That reality is forcing some rural hospitals to cut costs by eliminating services like cancer care or labor and delivery. Since 2023, 53 rural hospitals have made an even bigger reduction in services by ending inpatient services entirely.
At Community Memorial in South Hill, Levy insists the hospital will not reduce its services.
"You can put it in bold, all caps, underline, however else you want to do it. Italicized. Highlight it. South Hill is not closing. It's not going to close," he said.
VCU Health is actively expanding services at the South Hill campus and expects it to become a level three trauma center within the next few months.
That news is a relief to Montgomery. But she knows other communities may not be as fortunate, and she believes the work to keep rural hospitals open must continue.
"We have to be proactive in trying to make sure that we're good and our family members are good. Just because we're rural does not mean that we have to be left out," Montgomery said.
