'Hospital Crisis Watch' Tracks Healthcare Center Closures Under Trump-GOP Budget Law

A healthcare advocacy group launched a project Thursday aimed at tracking hospital closures under the recently enacted Trump-GOP budget law, whose unprecedented cuts to Medicaid could force clinics across the United States to cut services or shut down entirely in the near future.

More than 700 rural hospitals, which rely heavily on Medicaid reimbursements, were already in dire financial straits prior to passage of the Republican budget package, which includes more than $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. The new law is expected to push many struggling facilities over the edge.

"The consequences of this Republican bill are playing out in real time," said Protect Our Care, the advocacy organization behind new project, titled Hospital Crisis Watch. Earlier this month, a clinic in a rural Nebraska community announced that it would soon shut its doors, citing "anticipated federal budget cuts to Medicaid" as a major factor.

One analysis by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill estimates that more than 330 hospitals in rural areas across the U.S. are at risk of closing or curbing their services due to the Republican assault on Medicaid.

"With Hospital Crisis Watch, we're exposing the full scale of harm Republicans are inflicting on America's healthcare system."

Protect Our Care noted that Medicaid "accounts for one-fifth of spending on hospitals, one-fifth of hospital discharges, and at least one in five inpatient days in nearly every state."

" Donald Trump and Republicans just sacrificed hospitals and lifesaving care for millions so they could hand out massive tax breaks to billionaires," said Brad Woodhouse, the president of Protect Our Care. "This GOP bill won't just hurt people who rely on Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act—it rips care from everyone who depends on the hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes that will shut their doors as a result."

"With Hospital Crisis Watch, we're exposing the full scale of harm Republicans are inflicting on America's healthcare system—community by community, hospital by hospital," Woodhouse added. "The public deserves to know who's responsible, and we won't stop until Trump and Republicans are held accountable."

The project comes as hospital officials and healthcare experts are increasingly sounding the alarm about the looming impact of the Trump-GOP Medicaid cuts.

"What this does is put us at risk when the respiratory season hits," Benjamin Anderson, CEO of Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System, told NBC News earlier this week, saying the Medicaid cuts ensure that the 180-bed hospital his organization oversees will have to continue its hiring freeze.

"We're at real risk of wearing out the staff we have right now," Anderson warned.