Tag: rural health

More than 30 years after the Four Corners outbreak, New Mexico continues to report among the nation’s highest hantavirus pulmonary syndrome cases. Experts say the state’s ecology, climate cycles and rural living conditions have created an enduring hotspot for the rare but deadly disease carried by deer mice.

A state report shows 32 of New Mexico’s 33 counties face health worker shortages, delaying care and increasing physician burnout.

Los Alamos Visiting Nurse Service, a decades-old home health and hospice provider in Northern New Mexico, is shutting down after citing falling insurance reimbursements and rising operating costs. The closure underscores growing pressure on rural home-based care models that depend on Medicare and Medicaid payment rates that often don’t cover travel time.